Capitol Rioter Gets 5+ Years In Prison For Attacking Police

Mark Ponder, 56, has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for attacking police officers with poles during the violent January 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol building. Before his sentencing, Ponder told the court he “got caught up” in the chaos that erupted on Jan. 6, 2021, and “didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

A man who attacked police officers with poles during the U.S. Capitol riot has been sentenced to more than five years in prison. The sentence matches the longest term of imprisonment so far among hundreds of Capitol riot prosecutions. https://t.co/zA0KClFS7p

— The Associated Press (@AP) July 26, 2022

From AP News:

“I wasn’t thinking that day,” Ponder told U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, asking her for mercy before she sentenced him to five years and three months in prison.

That was three months longer than the prison sentence requested by prosecutors. And it’s the same sentence that Chutkan gave Robert Palmer, a Florida man who also pleaded guilty to assaulting police at the Capitol.

Ponder swung a pole at a Capitol police officer on the Capitol’s West Plaza, breaking it against the officer’s shield.

After retreating into the crowd, Ponder grabbed a sturdier pole colored in red, white, and blue stripes. He used it to assault two other officers, hitting one of them in the left shoulder, before police detained and handcuffed him.

Of the more than 200 Capitol riot defendants sentenced so far, Ponder and Palmer  – who both attacked police on that day – have received the longest prison sentences. Read the full report here. Related: Two January 6 Rioters Sentenced To 44 Months In Prison

ALERT. Federal judge Tanya Chutkan has sentenced Mark Ponder to 63 months in prison for assault on police during Capitol riot. (Noting: Judge Chutkan went above prosecutors’ recommended sentence. She did the same in a separate Jan 6 case last week) https://t.co/ExUZnsV4xK

— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) July 26, 2022