芝加哥-美国佛罗里达州一名携带特朗普竞选旗帜闯入美国参议院会议厅的男子定于1月6日成为第一名因重罪被判刑的暴徒，听证会将有助于为类似案件的处罚设定基准。
检察官希望保罗·阿拉德·霍奇金斯在狱中服刑18个月，他在最近的一份文件中说，他“像每个暴徒一样，通过迫使立法者暂时放弃他们对民主的认证，对集体威胁做出了贡献”乔·拜登s选举胜利，并从即将到来的暴民那里寻求庇护。
视频画面显示，38岁的霍奇金斯穿着特朗普2020年的t恤，国旗甩在肩上，护目镜戴在脖子上。他与一名自称戴着角盔的萨满和他身后讲台上的其他暴徒自拍。
周一在华盛顿对他的判决可能会为数百名其他被告设定惩罚标准，因为他们将决定是接受认罪协议还是接受审判。霍奇金斯和其他人被指控犯有严重罪行，但没有像其他人一样因参与更大的阴谋而被起诉。
霍奇金斯的一名律师上个月承认了一项阻碍官方诉讼的指控，他要求美国地方法官伦道夫·莫斯不要判处监禁，称霍奇金斯余生的耻辱应该作为惩罚因素。
帕特里克·n·莱杜克(Patrick N. Leduc)在最近提交的一份文件中写道:“无论法院可能提供什么样的惩罚，与霍奇金斯余生将佩戴的红字相比，都将显得苍白无力。”他引用了纳撒尼尔·霍桑(Nathaniel hoson)的一部小说，在该小说中，一名被指控通奸的女性被迫佩戴字母“a”
该文件认为，霍奇金的行为与安娜·摩根·劳埃德没有明显不同——除了霍奇金登上参议院。这位来自印第安纳州的49岁男子是大约500名被捕者中第一个被判刑的。她承认行为不端，上个月被判缓刑三年。
霍奇金斯从未被指控攻击任何人或破坏财产。检察官说，他应该得到一些宽大处理，因为他几乎立即承担了责任，并承认了妨碍公务的指控，最高可判20年监禁。
但他们也注意到，他是如何在家乡坦帕登上一辆开往1月6日特朗普集会的公共汽车的，背包里装着绳子、护目镜和乳胶手套——他们说，这表明他来到华盛顿是为暴力做准备的。
检察官说，当天，他穿过已经散落着被砸碎的警察路障和破碎的窗户的场地，晚上，当人群涌向国会大厦时，路过的警察和其他人受伤。
“一次又一次，霍奇金斯没有转身后退，而是向前推进，”政府文件中说。
莱杜克称他的客户是一个守法的美国人，尽管住在坦帕的贫困地区，但他经常在一家食品银行做志愿者。他指出，霍奇金斯曾是一名老鹰童子军。
他在1月6日的行为“是一个人的故事，一天中只有一个小时迷失了方向...他做出了跟随人群的重大决定。
莱杜克长达33页的陈述文件用了几页篇幅讨论内战，强调亚伯拉罕·林肯在遇刺前几周呼吁和解。
“法院有机会效仿林肯，”他写道。
Man faces 1st sentencing for felony in riot at US Capitol
CHICAGO -- AFloridaman who breached the U.S. Senate chamber carrying a Trump campaign flag is scheduled to become the first Jan. 6 rioter sentenced for a felony, in a hearing that will help set a benchmark for punishment in similar cases.
Prosecutors want Paul Allard Hodgkins to serve 18 months behind bars, saying in a recent filing that he, “like each rioter, contributed to the collective threat to democracy” by forcing lawmakers to temporarily abandon their certification ofJoe Biden’selectionvictory and to scramble for shelter from incoming mobs.
Video footage shows Hodgkins, 38, wearing a Trump 2020 T-shirt, the flag flung over his shoulder and eye goggles around his neck inside the Senate. He took a selfie with a self-described shaman in a horned helmet and other rioters on the dais behind him.
His sentencing Monday in Washington could set the bar for punishments of hundreds of other defendants as they decide whether to accept plea deals or go to trial. Hodgkins and others are accused of serious crimes but were not indicted, as other were, for roles in larger conspiracies.
A lawyer for Hodgkins, who pleaded guilty last month to one count of obstructing an official proceeding, asked U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss not to impose a prison sentence, saying the shame that will attach to Hodgkins for the rest of his life should be factored in as punishment.
“Whatever punishment this court may provide will pale in comparison to the scarlet letter Mr. Hodgkins will wear for the rest of his life,” Patrick N. Leduc wrote in a recent filing, citing a Nathaniel Hawthorne novel in which a woman accused of adultery is forced to wear a letter “A.”
The filing argues that Hodgkins' actions weren’t markedly different from those of Anna Morgan Lloyd — other than Hodgkins stepping onto the Senate floor. The 49-year-old from Indiana was the first of roughly 500 arrested to be sentenced. She pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct and last month was sentenced to three years of probation.
Hodgkins was never accused of assaulting anyone or damaging property. And prosecutors said he deserves some leniency for taking responsibility almost immediately and pleading guilty to the obstruction charge, which carries a maximum 20-years prison sentence.
But they also noted how he boarded a bus in his hometown of Tampa bound for a Jan. 6 Trump rally carrying rope, protective goggles and latex gloves in a backpack — saying that demonstrated he came to Washington prepared for violence.
On the day, he walked through grounds already littered with smashed police barriers and broken windows, evening passing police officers and others injured as the crowd surged toward the Capitol, prosecutors said.
“Time and time again, rather than turn around and retreat, Hodgkins pressed forward,” the government filing said.
Leduc described his client as an otherwise law-abiding American who, despite living in a poorer part of Tampa, regularly volunteered at a food bank. He noted that Hodgkins had been an Eagle Scout.
His actions on Jan. 6 "is the story of a man who for just one hour on one day lost his bearings ... who made a fateful decision to follow the crowd,” the attorney said.
Leduc’s 33-page presentencing filing devotes several pages to the Civil War, highlighting Abraham Lincoln’s calls for reconciliation weeks before his assassination.
“The court has a chance to emulate Lincoln,” he wrote.
