You gotta read this CNN article on the convicted capitol rioter

[iemanja]

Paul Hodgkins got 8 months after swearing he was "truly remorseful." His father sat in the courtroom clutching a rosary. Hodgkins junior "said he acknowledges that President Joe Biden is the legitimate president. He told the judge that he started going to church, stopped drinking alcohol and that he [even] took the Covid-19 vaccine.

Talk about spectacle. That guy conned the judge with his theatrical performance.

Evidently the lawyer was less effective.

After Hodgkins spoke, his attorney Patrick Leduc gave a rambling 30-minute presentation where he quoted Abraham Lincoln, invoked the Japanese internment during World War II, decried "cancel culture" and argued that the rioters who stormed the Capitol weren't "real terrorists."

During a break in the hearing, Hodgkins' mother told Leduc, "you talk too much."

It would be comical if it weren't treason. Yet he was convicted of "obstructing congressional proceedings."

Here's the article: https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/19/politics/capitol-riot-felony-paul-hodgkins/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0jFkfYajB--zeBvFVUVj0x3A6friL3FGUzWHr20qr03qQoQR_N41r9TGU

[tblue37]

1. Months, not years.

[iemanja]

5. Right

I knew that, but somehow wrote the wrong thing. Thanks for the correction.

[brooklynite]

2. If you read the live blogs, he did NOT "con" the Judge...

8 months was considered appropriate because he personally didn't engage in any violent activities and pled guilty early on.

[iemanja]

3. I don't believe it

for a minute.

[brooklynite]

9. Form the liveblog...

Alan Feuer
@alanfeuer

"Although Mr. Hodgkins was only one member of an active mob," Judge Moss says, he participated in an event that endangered not only the Capitol but "democracy itself," causing legislators to flee.
"That," Judge Moss adds, "is an extraordinary event."
12:05 PM · Jul 19, 2021·Twitter Web App


It's chilling for many reasons, Judge Moss adds.
"When a mob is prepared to attack the Capitol...democracy is in trouble," he says.


The attack on the Capitol, Judge Moss says, "makes us question whether our democracy is less secure than we did just seven months ago."


Moss agrees to a point that Hodgkins was less culpable than some others at the Capitol. He wasn't a leader of the attack and wasn't violent or destructive. And wasn't one of the first people to breach the building.


Moss says he's less convinced that Hodgkins merely "lost his bearings" for a day. He went to DC on a bus form Florida. He brought goggles and gloves as if he were "prepared for conflict."
Hodgkins had to have seen the mayhem on Jan. 6 and didn't "end up there by accident.


Moss notes Hodgkins had a Trump flag with him in the Capitol.

"He was staking a claim on the floor on the US Senate," Moss said, "not with an American but a flag of a single individual over a nation."


"People have to know that assaulting the US Capitol and impeding the US congress...will have severe consequences," Judge Moss says.


BREAKING: Paul Hodgkins, the first Capitol rioter who admitted trying to stop the certification of the vote, was sentenced to 8 months in prison.
Judge Randolph Moss cited a need for "severe consequences" for Jan. 6 but said Hodgkins pled early and was a first-time offender.

[iemanja]

11. Do you actually think the sentence would have been the same

if he hadn't expressed remorse? The father clutching the rosary was pretty transparent.

[brooklynite]

13. But the point is, he did...

Your argument seems to be that he he wasn't sincere when he did it. I'm willing to bet that the Judge and Prosecutors could see through that transparency. Certainly his Lawyer wasn't clever enough to think up this strategy.

[underpants]

4. The brief by his lawyer is truly epic

https://www.thedailybeast.com/capitol-rioter-paul-hodgkins-lawyer-argues-a-slap-on-the-wrist-would-heal-the-nation

[iemanja]

8. The mother is right

The lawyer talks (and writes) too much.

[Lovie777]

10. It was straight out of Qanon playbook . .. .

[abqtommy]

6. But then 8 months in prison could be a death sentence, depending on the prison and the

prison population. Look what happened to Epstein...

[Thomas Hurt]

7. LOL, play up the remorse and innocence....let your attorney get your real message on the record.

[Deminpenn]

12. It's an appropriate sentence considering he didn't assault anyone or

cause any damage. It sets a floor for others who were at the Capitol and acted similarly. There are much more serious actors than this guy and the serious jail time should be reserved for them.

Eight months in a federal prison won't be a walk in the park and his conviction will follow him for the rest of his life. Hopefully he's learned a lesson.