WASHINGTON — A Tennessee man who wrote on social media about eager to “take over the Capitol building” earlier than the Jan. 6, 2021 riot, the place he threw a flagpole at a police officer’s head, was sentenced on Wednesday to greater than six years in jail.
Joseph Padilla, of Cleveland, Tennessee, was convicted in May of assault with a harmful weapon, obstruction of Congress and different expenses after a bench trial in Washington’s federal courtroom.
Padilla has been behind bars since his February 2021 arrest. U.S. District Judge John D. Bates, who discovered him responsible after the bench trial, ordered him this week to serve 6 1/2 years in jail.
Prosecutors say Padilla, a former jail corrections officer, spent hours the day of the riot verbally and bodily attacking police, who had been making an attempt to beat again the indignant mob of Donald Trump supporters as lawmakers met within the Capitol to certify then-President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
After different rioters attacked police with objects similar to crutches and a hockey stick, Padilla launched a flagpole towards officers, hitting considered one of them within the head, prosecutors stated in courtroom data. Prosecutors say he then lied underneath oath on the witness stand about it, claiming he was making an attempt to hit one other rioter.
A day after the riot, Padilla wrote on social media that he was “proud” of his actions, including: “It’s guns next, that’s the only way,” prosecutors stated. Prosecutors additionally pointed to a number of of Padilla’s social media feedback calling for a revolution forward of Jan. 6.
“We’ve gotta do it on the 6th or never at all. We have to take over the Capitol Building, immediately pass acts dissolving the current Legislative body, and fill the places with uncompromising Patriots from among those of us there,” Padilla wrote in a single publish in late December 2020.
Padilla’s lawyer informed the choose that his consumer, a U.S. Army veteran, “regrets ever having gone to the Capitol on January 6th, 2021.” Padilla’s lawyer stated the person has lived an “exemplary life” regardless of a “troubled upbringing,” which included a stint of homelessness, and that his actions on Jan. 6 had been “not typical of his life pattern.”
Padilla “states that every day is torture having to live with the fact that his actions are the direct reason for his family’s separation and hardship. He understands that his actions on January 6th caused himself and his family the pain and suffering they now deal with daily,” protection legal professional Michael Cronkright wrote in courtroom papers.
An e-mail in search of remark was despatched to Conkright after Wednesday’s listening to.
More than 1,100 folks have been charged with federal crimes stemming from the riot, which left dozens of law enforcement officials injured and halted Congress’ certification of Biden’s victory. Over 650 defendants have pleaded responsible. More than 600 have been sentenced, with over half receiving phrases of imprisonment starting from three days to 22 years.
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