Earlier than studying his sentencing, Sparks informed the decide that he nonetheless believes the 2020 presidential election was marred by fraud and “utterly taken from the American public.”
“I am remorseful that what transpired that day didn’t help anybody,” Sparks mentioned. “I am remorseful that our country is in the state it’s in.”
U.S. District Decide Timothy Kelly, who sentenced Sparks to 4 years and 5 months, informed him that there was nothing patriotic about his distinguished position in what was a “national disgrace.”
“I don’t really think you appreciate the full gravity of what happened that day and, quite frankly, the full seriousness of what you did,” the decide mentioned.
Federal prosecutors advisable a jail sentence of 4 years and 9 months for Sparks, a 47-year-old former manufacturing unit employee from Cecilia, Kentucky.
Protection legal professional Scott Wendelsdorf requested the decide to condemn Sparks to at least one 12 months of dwelling detention as an alternative of jail.
A jury convicted Sparks of all six prices that he confronted, together with a felony rely of interfering with police throughout a civil dysfunction. Sparks didn’t testify at his trial in Washington, D.C.
Within the weeks main as much as the Jan. 6 assault, Sparks used social media to advertise conspiracy theories about election fraud and advocate for a civil struggle.
“It’s time to drag them out of Congress. It’s tyranny,” he posted on Fb three days earlier than the riot.
Sparks traveled to Washington, D.C, with co-workers from an electronics and parts plant in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. They attended then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally close to the White Home on Jan. 6.
After the rally, Sparks and a buddy, Joseph Howe, joined a crowd in marching to the Capitol. Each of them wore tactical vests. Howe was captured on video repeatedly saying, “we’re getting in that building.”
Off digicam, Sparks added: “All it’s going to take is one particular person to go. The remaining is following,” in response to prosecutors. Sparks’ legal professional argued that the proof would not show that Sparks made that assertion.
“Of course, both Sparks and Howe were more right than perhaps anyone else knew at the time — it was just a short time later that Sparks made history as the very first person to go inside, and the rest indeed followed,” prosecutors wrote.
Dominic Pezzola, a member of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group, used a police defend to interrupt a window subsequent to the Senate Wing Door. Capitol Police Sgt. Victor Nichols sprayed Sparks within the face as he hopped by the shattered glass.
Nichols testified that Sparks acted “like a green light for everybody behind him, and everyone followed right behind him because it was like it was okay to go into the building.” Nichols additionally mentioned Sparks’ actions had been “the catalyst for the building being completely breached.”
Undeterred by pepper spray, Sparks joined different rioters in chasing Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman as he retreated up the steps and located backup from different officers close to the Senate chamber.
“This is our America!” Sparks screamed at police. He left the constructing about 10 minutes later.
Sparks’ legal professional downplayed his consumer’s distinction as the primary rioter to enter the constructing.
“While technically true in a time-line sense, he did not lead the crowd into the building or cause the breach through which he and others entered,” Wendelsdorf wrote. “Actually, there were eight different points of access that day separately and independently exploited by the protestors.”
However the decide mentioned when and the place Sparks entered the Capitol was an vital think about his sentencing.
“I think it’s undeniable that the first person (to enter the Capitol) would have an emboldening and encouraging effect on everyone who was at least in your vicinity,” Kelly informed Sparks. “To say it wasn’t a material, key point in the mob’s taking of the Capitol, I think, is just ignoring the obvious.”
Sparks was arrested in Kentucky lower than a month after the riot. Sparks and Howe had been charged collectively in a November 2022 indictment. Howe pleaded responsible to assault and obstruction prices and was sentenced final 12 months to 4 years and two months in jail.
Greater than 1,400 individuals have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Roughly 950 riot defendants have been convicted and sentenced. Greater than 600 of them have acquired phrases of imprisonment starting from just a few days to 22 years.
