A Glendora man who admitted to breaking a window during the Jan. 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Friday to four months in prison.
Hunter Ehmke, 21, was also sentenced to 36 months of supervised release and ordered to pay $2,821 in restitution after accepting a plea deal earlier this year requiring him to admit to destruction of government property, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Thousands of Trump supporters traveled to Washington D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021 in what turned into a violent but ultimately failed attempt to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory. The Jan. 6 Insurrection has so far led to more than 800 arrests nationwide, including more than two-dozen people with ties to Southern California.
According to a sentencing brief filed by prosecutors, Ehmke went to Washington D.C. to attend a “Stop the Steal” rally, then joined a large mob as it gathered on the East side of the Capitol Building, outside the Rotunda Door.
Ehmke jumped onto the ledge of a window leading into Capitol offices and used his right foot and right fist to smash several windowpanes. An officer saw Ehmke wave to members of the mob, apparently to draw attention to the unguarded window, prosecutors wrote.
Police pushed Ehmke to the ground and detained him, but were forced to let him go when they were surrounded by a large group of rioters. The officers took photos of Ehmke and seized his driver’s license before letting him go.
Ehmke was arrested days later while having dinner at the home of his grandfather, former Glendora councilman Bob Kuhn.
Prosecutors in the sentencing brief wrote that Ehmke “was not merely an actor who hung back and followed others into the Capitol.” Instead, prosecutors described him as “an instigator” who “led others toward an unguarded potential entry point to the Capitol and began attacking it.”
They noted, however, that Ehmke has no criminal history, lives with his parents and works for their online business, and he left the Capitol Building when ordered to do so by police.
See also: List: These Southern California residents are accused of taking part in the Capitol riot
Ehmke’s attorney in his own sentencing brief described Ehmke as having been “fed lies and disingenuous directions by people that should have known better.” He had traveled to Washington D.C. to see Trump speak, convincing his family to pay for what they believed would be “a good exercise in civil education,” the defense attorney wrote. Instead, Ehmke got “caught in adrenaline, chaos and the camaraderie of the crowd.”
The defense attorney argued that Ehmke “did not organize nor incite the riot, nor did he physically harm any person.”
So far, more than 275 people across the country have pleaded guilty to charges related to the Jan. 6 riot, according to Department of Justice statistics, and more than 165 have been sentenced.
Unlike most other Capitol insurrection defendants from Southern California who have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges that essentially amount to trespassing on restricted grounds, Ehmke pleaded guilty to a felony charge.
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