The trial of the latest participant in the January 6, 2020 riot on Capitol Hill came to a close yesterday. Michael Sparks, a resident of Kentucky, was sentenced to four years and five months in prison. This case merits particular attention because both the prosecutors and the judge were clearly trying to make an example of Sparks and deliver the harshest sentence within their power, despite there being virtually no evidence that his participation in the attack was any different from most of the other people who participated. Prosecutors described Sparks as a “catalyst” for the riot. His attorneys had asked the judge for a sentence of one year of home detention, but the judge opted to hand down a sentence only a few months shy of the maximum requested by the prosecution. (NY Post)
A Kentucky man who was the first rioter to enter the U.S. Capitol during a mob’s attack on the…
