Paul A. Hodgkins was the first person charged with a felony in the attack to be sentenced. His penalty could be a guidepost for scores of similar defendants.
The first person to have pleaded guilty to storming the Capitol on Jan.6 with the intention of stopping the certification of the Electoral College vote was sentenced on Monday to eight months in prison in what could serve as an indicator for scores of similar cases. The defendant, Paul A. Hodgkins, pleaded guilty last month to a single felony count — obstruction of an official proceeding before Congress — and admitted to breaching the Senate floor with a Trump flag and a backpack filled with items like goggles, rope and a pair of latex gloves. Mr. Hodgkins was one of about 50 people who made it to the Senate floor, prosecutors say. His acknowledgment that he went deep into the Capitol intending to disrupt the peaceful transition of power set him apart in the eyes of prosecutors from scores of other members of the mob who had merely walked into the building. At a sentencing hearing in Federal District Court in Washington, Judge Randolph D. Moss said there needed to be “severe consequences” for the attack, but also noted that Mr. Hodgkins, a 38-year-old Florida crane operator, was a first-time offender and had pleaded guilty early. Those circumstances will apply to only some of the other defendants who are facing similar charges. Judge Moss said the events of Jan.6 — when, as he noted, a mob assaulted the home of Congress and forced legislators to drop the business of democracy and flee the building — were “extraordinary” and “chilling.” “When a mob is prepared to attack the Capitol,” he said, “democracy is in trouble.
