A particular person that attacked police officers with poles at some level of the rebel at the U.S. Capitol became as soon as sentenced on Tuesday to extra than five years in detention heart, matching the longest term of imprisonment to this level among a complete bunch of Capitol rebel prosecutions.
Mark Ponder, a 56-year-passe resident of Washington, D.C., said he “got caught up” within the chaos that erupted on Jan. 6, 2021, and “didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
“I wasn’t thinking that day,” Mr. Ponder rapid U.S. District Think Tanya Chutkan, asking her for mercy forward of she sentenced him to 5 years and three months in detention heart.
That became as soon as three months longer than the detention heart sentence requested by prosecutors. And it’s the identical sentence that Think Chutkan gave Robert Palmer, a Florida man who also pleaded guilty to assaulting police at the Capitol.
Larger than 200 other Capitol rebel defendants were sentenced to this level. None got a longer detention heart sentence than Mr. Ponder or Mr. Palmer.
Think Chutkan said Mr. Ponder became as soon as “main the payment” in opposition to police officers making an try to grab off the mob that disrupted Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
“That is no longer ‘caught up,’ Mr. Ponder,” she said. “He became as soon as intent on attacking and injuring police officers. This became as soon as no longer a notify.”
Think Chutkan has consistently taken a exciting line in punishing Capitol rioters. She has handed down terms of imprisonment to all 13 rebel defendants who own advance forward of her, matching or exceeding the Justice Division’s sentencing suggestion in every case, in retaining with an Associated Press review of court files.
Prosecutors had rapid a five-year detention heart sentence for Mr. Ponder, who has been jailed since his arrest in March 2021.
In April, Mr. Ponder pleaded guilty to an assault payment punishable by a most sentence of 20 years in detention heart. Federal sentencing pointers known as for a detention heart term starting from virtually five years to compatible below six years, but Think Chutkan wasn’t plod by these ideas.
Larger than 100 police officers had been injured at some level of t