Five members of a Texas family of 10 was sentenced together on Wednesday for their collective involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Parents Dawn and Thomas Munn were reprimanded by District of Columbia Chief District Judge Beryl Howell for bringing four of their eight children to Washington, CBS reported. Dawn, Thomas and their three adult children — Kayli, Joshua and Kristi — received various sentences. The fourth child is a minor.
According to CNN, Dawn claimed she travelled to Washington to determine if the 2020 election results were legitimate.
“I was looking for somebody to show me proof that our election was going to be secure,” Dawn said. “If we don’t have a secure election, we don’t have a country. This is a country by the voice of the people.”
During Wednesday’s sentencing, Dawn maintained that she still had doubts about the 2020 election results.
Both Munn parents were given a 14-day prison sentence, three months of home confinement and three years of probation. The three adult children were sentenced to probation, though Kristi was also handed a brief period of home confinement.
Several members of the Munn family were accused of spreading misinformation on social media about the Jan. 6 riots. In her FBI interview, Kayli claimed to have seen Antifa on Jan. 6; Howell said the Munn daughter did so in an attempt to summon a “bogeyman.”
In court, Howell said Thomas “should’ve known better before leading the family into a chaotic situation.” She said the Munn family “participated in a mob that stopped the democratic process.”
Alternatively, Thomas, who said he had never been a political person, claimed the family travelled to Washington after he felt they “should speak out” about what was happening on the news.
The family collectively pleaded guilty to the misdemeanour charge against them. They confessed to spending nearly an hour in the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6.
CBS also reported that court documents submitted alleged the Munn family had used a federal stimulus cheque to help pay for the trip to Washington.
The Justice Department claimed the Munn family entered the U.S. Capitol through a broken window in a Senate wing door. Some members of the Munn family were pictured roaming the building dressed in camouflage; one daughter was pictured draped in a Trump banner.
Thomas was reportedly seen smoking a cigarette as he walked through the hallways.
“We had an idea in our heads that we were fighting a monster,” Kayli said at the sentencing. She did not directly answer who or what the “monster” was.
Howell asked Dawn and Thomas to set better examples for their children.