A federal judge on Monday issued the first sentence to a Capitol rioter who’d pleaded guilty to a felony charge, telling Paul Hodgkins he’d be spending eight months in prison as a result of his actions and saying the damage caused by the Capitol attack “will persist in this country for decades.”
That is 19 years and 4 months too short!
Mob politics in prison might just reform this cretin.
I fully agree with the sentiments of thejudge. But WTF, only 8 months for a felony?
Helps to be white, I guess.
You would think there would be a minimum sentence for insurrection.
I take solice in the fact that this guy will be his own victim of stupidity for the rest of his miserable life.
Wow, just wow. People are receiving multi-year sentences for accidentally voting improperly, but actually storm the Capitol in insurrection mode in which people died, and receive less than one full year. Incredible. SMDH
Judges like it when you plead guilty, so I think this establishes a less-than-minimum bound for anyone who is convicted of similar crimes.
Great street cred though, for running for any Red State office.
China or Russia or PDRK it’s a 9mm through the back of the head. The country these scoundrels hate is showing mercy. Sorry Judge, it’s a wasted lesson.
Paul Hodgkins, 38 … pleads guilty to felony charge gets fine & 8 month prison sentence.
now embarks upon the rest of his life as “a Felon” …
ouch … that is going to leave a mark! yeah … should have thought about what you were doing!
Jesus H. If the judge really believed that our democracy itself was under attack and it’s important to protect and defend it, then this limp, milquetoast sentence sends exactly the opposite message, He should have sent the guy away for the full 18 months the prosecutors requested and set that precedent, and make it clear that if you fuck with the peaceful transfer of power you will suffer - and we do mean suffer - the consequences. I mean, you “take into account” what? He held a Trump flag up in the Senate chamber, that’s an act of fascist terrorism, and you give the asshole 8 months? Meanwhile black men are executed on street corners for selling loose cigarettes and passing fake $20 bills. What horseshit. We don’t deserve this democracy.
He will be known. He will be in History books, and not well-regarded.
The arrogance and misplaced passion that propelled that crowd to violate the center of American democracy sickens me. Late coming contrition is convenient but the judge was right to call it what it was. Let’s see what the defendant does with the time he has been given to reflect on his terrible judgment. We will learn a lot about his character if he just wants to do his time and move on with his life. It is laughable that some call this fellow and those who joined him “patriot.”
That all depends on who’s writing those history books now doesn’t it?
“It means that it will be harder today than it was seven months ago for the United States and our diplomats to convince other nations to pursue democracy,” the judge continued. “It means that it will be harder for all of us to convince our children and our grandchildren that democracy stands as the immutable foundation of this nation. It means that we are now all fearful about the next attack in a way that we never were. It makes us question whether our democracy is less secure than what we previously believed just seven months ago.”
This is why I loathe Donald Trump. I despise him with the heat of a thousand suns. He alone has broken it. The greatest democracy in the history of the world was and continues to be on a knife’s edge because of his despicable and cowardly actions and his blatant lies.
I’m exaggerating, of course, when I say he alone broke it - merely a play off his ludicrous “ I alone can fix it” statement. He had a lot of help from his talentless and amoral fellow grifters and traitors at every step, and they’re still around perpetuating the Big Lie.
Moving on with his life is going to be difficult even with such a short sentence. Every time he applies for a job or a loan or a license of one kind or another, he is going to have to explain what an asshole he was. Not sure that’s entirely fair, but that’s how things are set up for now. The felony is going to follow him around for the rest of his life.
ETA @jinnj
“Sentencing is always a very challenging task, and the court here had to consider both what I think are the extremely damaging events that occurred that day, but also who Mr. Hodgkins is as an individual,” Moss said at the end of Monday’s hearing. “I tried to strike that balance,” he added. I hope he and his fellow judges apply this same principle in cases where black men and women vote, unaware that their probation periods are not completed. (Fat chance.)
Although I wish that the sentence had been longer, I’m glad that the judge called attention to the symbolism of the T flag in the floor of the Senate. It was a statement of allegiance. I would venture a guess that he will claim that this was never his intent. Bummer he didn’t pay attention on symbol day in sophomore English. I hope that when they get to those a-holes who carried the battle flag of the Confederacy into the Capitol, they point out that this was specifically the flag of a group who wished to destroy the country, and will sentence accordingly.
Thanks for that. Makes me a little less annoyed at the “Justice Light” he recieved.