A Kentucky man who was the first to enter the U.S. Capitol during the mob's storming of the building was sentenced Tuesday to more than four years in prison.
The police officers who tried to subdue Michael Sparks with pepper spray said Sparks was the person who started the January 6 riot.
The Senate recessed that day less than a minute after Sparks jumped into the building through a broken window.
Sparks then joined other rioters and chased officers up the stairs.
Before hearing the sentence, Sparks told the judge she still believes the 2020 presidential election was tainted by fraud and that “the hopes of the American people were completely stolen.”
“I regret that what happened that day didn't help anyone,” Sparks said.
“It's unfortunate that our country is in this state.”
Sentencing Sparks to four years and five months in prison, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said there was nothing patriotic about his key role in this “national disgrace.”
“I don't think you fully understand the gravity of what happened that day and, frankly, the gravity of what you did,” the judge said.
Federal prosecutor Recommending a prison sentence Sparks, a 47-year-old former factory worker from Cecilia, Kentucky, was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison.
Attorney Scott Wendelsdorf the judge asked Sparks was ordered to serve a year of home detention instead of prison.
Jurors found Sparks guilty of all six charges against him, including a felony count of obstructing police during a riot.
Sparks did not testify at the Washington, D.C. trial.
In the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack, Sparks used social media to spread conspiracy theories about election fraud and advocated for a civil war.
“It's time to get them out of Congress. This is tyranny,” he posted on Facebook three days before the riot.
Sparks traveled to Washington, DC, with colleagues from an electronics and components factory in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
They attended then-President Donald Trump's “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6 near the White House.
After the rally, Sparks and a friend Joseph Howejoined the crowd and marched to the Capitol.
Both were wearing tactical vests.
Howe is seen on the video repeatedly saying, “We're going into that building.”
“One more person needs to go, the rest will follow,” Sparks added off camera, according to prosecutors.
Sparks' lawyers argued that the evidence did not prove Sparks made the statements.
“Of course, both Sparks and Howe were more right than anyone probably realized at the time. Shortly thereafter, Sparks made his mark in history as the first man to go to prison, and others followed suit,” the prosecutors wrote.
Dominic Pezzola, a member of the far-right extremist group Proud Boys, used a police shield to smash a window next to the Senate door, and Capitol Police Sergeant Victor Nichols splashed water on Sparks' face as she jumped through the broken glass.
Nichols testified that Sparks “kind of gave everybody behind him the green light, and they all followed closely behind him so it was OK for them to enter the building.”
Nichols also said Sparks' actions “led to the complete destruction of the building.”
Undaunted by the pepper spray, Sparks joined other rioters and pursued retreating Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up the stairs, receiving backup from other officers near the Senate chamber.
“This is our America!” Sparks yelled at police.
He left the building about 10 minutes later.
Sparks' lawyers downplayed the fact that their client was the first rioter to enter the building.
“While the timeline is technically correct, he did not lead the crowd into the building or create the breach through which he and others entered,” Wendelsdorf wrote.
“In fact, protesters used eight different access points separately and independently that day.”
But the judge said when and where Sparks entered the Capitol were important factors in sentencing.
“I think it's undeniable that the first person to enter the Capitol is going to have an inspiring and encouraging effect on at least everyone who is in the immediate vicinity,” Kelly told Sparks.
“To say that wasn't a key point when the mob took over the Capitol, I think, is just ignoring obvious facts.”
Sparks was arrested in Kentucky less than a month after the riot.
Sparks and Howe were indicted together in a November 2022 indictment.
Howe pleaded guilty to assault and obstruction and was sentenced to four years and two months in prison last year.
More than 1,400 people have been charged with federal crimes in connection with the Capitol attack.
Approximately 950 riot defendants have been convicted and sentenced.
Of those, more than 600 received prison sentences ranging from a few days to 22 years.
