A Kentucky man who was the first rioter to enter the U.S. Capitol during a mob’s attack on the building has been sentenced to more than four years in prison. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly sentenced Michael Sparks on Tuesday to four years and five months of imprisonment.
A police officer who tried to subdue Michael Sparks with pepper spray described him as a catalyst for the Jan. 6 siege.
The Senate recessed less than one minute after Sparks jumped into the building through a broken window. Sparks then joined other rioters in chasing a police officer up flights of stairs.
Special counsel Jack Smith has filed a new indictment against Donald Trump over his efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election. It keeps the same criminal charges but narrows the allegations against him following a Supreme Court opinion conferring broad immunity on former presidents.
The new indictment removes a section of the indictment that dealt with Trump’s interactions with the Justice Department, an area for which the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 opinion, said Trump was entitled to immunity from prosecution. The stripped-down criminal case represents a first effort by prosecutors to comply with the Supreme Court opinion.