The first rioter to enter the US Capitol building during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack was convicted on Friday of charges that he interfered with police and obstructed Congress from certifying President Biden's 2020 electoral victory. Michael Sparks, 46, of Kentucky, jumped through a shattered window moments after another rioter smashed it with a stolen riot shield. Sparks then joined other rioters in chasing a police officer up flights of stairs, the AP reports, one of the most harrowing images from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. US District Judge Timothy Kelly is scheduled to sentence him on July 9.
A federal jury in Washington, DC, convicted Sparks of all six charges that he faced, including two felonies. Sparks didn't testify at his weeklong trial. Sparks, wearing a tactical vest, was the "tip of the spear" and breached the Capitol building less than a minute before senators recessed to evacuate the chamber and escape from the mob, Justice Department prosecutor Emily Allen said during the trial's closing arguments. "The defendant was ready for a civil war. Not just ready for a civil war. He wanted it," Allen told jurors.
Defense attorney Scott Wendelsdorf conceded that Sparks is guilty of the four misdemeanor counts, including trespassing and disorderly conduct charges. But he urged the jury to acquit him of the felony charges—civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding—saying Sparks immediately left the Capitol when he realized that Vice President Mike Pence wouldn't succumb to pressure from then-President Donald Trump to overturn Biden's victory. Allen said Sparks knew that he broke the law but wasn't remorseful, per the AP. "I'll go again given the opportunity," Sparks texted his mother a day after the riot.
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