Paul Allard Hodgkins, 38, has been sentenced to a nine-month prison sentence after he breached the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, with other rioters in an attempt to support then-President, Donald J. Trump.
Hodgkins, who pled guilty to the felony, is one of the first of what is anticipated to be many who will be sentenced for their actions on January 6. Originally, his prison sentence was set for twenty years, however, attorneys urged Judge Randolf Moss to reduce his sentence to just eighteen months.
Hodgkins also pled with the judge to have no imprisonment time as he would lose employment from his job.“ If I had any idea that the protest … would escalate … I would never have ventured farther than the sidewalk of Pennsylvania Avenue,” he implored.
The decision was left to Moss who sentenced him to only nine months, believing that Hodgkins was sincerely sorry for his actions. “This was not . . . by any stretch of the imagination a protest. It was an assault on democracy. . . it left a stain that will remain on us. . . on the country for years to come,” Moss stated during the sentencing.
Frustrated with the judge’s decision, Hodgkins’ lawyer, Patrick N. Leduc noted that Hodgkins’ actions were not too different from Anna Morgan Llyod, a woman who was sentenced to three years of probation for the Capitol riots. He argued that like Llyod, Hodgkins only stepped onto the Senate floor.
Still, it was noted that he boarded a bus from his hometown, Tampa, on Jan. 6 for the Trump rally carrying rope, protective goggles, and latex gloves in a backpack showing that he came to Washington prepared for violence.
Video footage also shows Hodgkins wearing a Trump 2020 T-shirt, the flag flung over his shoulder, and eye goggles around his neck inside the Senate. He also took a selfie with a self-described shaman in a horned helmet and other rioters on the dais behind him according to the Tampa Bay Times.