A Tennessee man who wrote on social media about wanting to “take control of the Capitol building” before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, where he threw a flagpole at a police officer's head, was sentenced last week. Wednesday to more than six years in prison.
Joseph Padilla, of Cleveland, Tennessee, was convicted in May of assault with a dangerous weapon, obstruction of Congress and other charges following a trial in federal court in Washington. Padilla has been in pretrial detention since his arrest in February 2021.
U.S. District Judge John D. Bates, who found him guilty after trial, ordered him this week to serve six and a half years in prison.
Prosecutors say Padilla, a former corrections officer, spent hours on the day of the riot verbally and physically attacking police, who were trying to push back the angry crowd of Donald Trump supporters as lawmakers gathered at the Capitol to certify the then-president elect Joe Biden's electoral victory.
After other rioters attacked police with objects such as crutches and a hockey stick, Padilla threw a flagpole toward officers, hitting one of them in the head, prosecutors said in court records.
Prosecutors say he then lied under oath on the witness stand, claiming he was trying to hit another rioter. A day after the riot, Padilla wrote on social media that he was “proud” of his actions and added: “The next thing is guns, that's the only way,” prosecutors said.
Additionally, they also pointed out several of Padilla's comments on social media calling for a revolution before January 6. “We have to do it on the 6th or never. We must take the Capitol building, immediately pass laws that dissolve the current legislative body, and fill the seats with uncompromising patriots among those of us who are there," Padilla wrote in a post in late December 2020.
Padilla's attorney told the judge that his client, a U.S. Army veteran, "regrets going to the Capitol on January 6, 2021." The attorney said the man has lived an “exemplary life” despite a “troubled upbringing,” which included a period of homelessness, and that his actions on Jan. 6 “were not typical of his pattern of life.” ”.
Padilla "states that every day it is torture to have to live with the fact that his actions are the direct reason for his family's separation and difficulties. He understands that his actions on January 6 caused him and his family pain and suffering that they now face daily.
More than 1,100 people have been charged with federal crimes stemming from the riot, which left dozens of police officers injured and prevented Congress from certifying Biden's victory. More than 650 defendants have pleaded guilty. More than 600 have been sentenced, and more than half received prison terms ranging from three days to 22 years.
