Adam Johnson of Parrish, Fla.
Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office by way of AP
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Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office by way of AP
A Florida man who grabbed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s podium and posed for images with it during the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced on Friday to greater than two months in prison.
The picture of Adam Johnson smiling and waving as he carried Pelosi’s podium went viral after the pro-Trump mob’s assault on Jan. 6, 2021. Johnson positioned the podium in the middle of the Capitol Rotunda, posed for footage and pretended to make a speech, prosecutors mentioned.
After driving residence, Johnson bragged that he “broke the internet” and was “finally famous,” prosecutors mentioned. They argued that his actions at the Capitol “illustrate his sense of entitlement and privilege.”
“The now-viral podium photo portrays Johnson as confident, arguably gleeful, while converting government property to his own use during an unlawful siege,” a prosecutor wrote in a courtroom submitting.
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton sentenced Johnson to 75 days in prison adopted by one yr of supervised launch. The decide additionally ordered Johnson to pay a $5,000 fantastic and carry out 200 hours of neighborhood service. Johnson will report to prison at a date to be decided.
Johnson informed Walton that posing with Pelosi’s podium was a “very stupid idea.”
“I bear no ill will toward her or her office at all,” Johnson mentioned.
Prosecutors had really helpful a three-month prison sentence
Walton mentioned America is on a harmful path when many voters consider that they “have a right to do whatever in order to have the person who they want in power sitting in the White House.”
“That’s what we see in banana republics,” the decide mentioned. “That’s what we see in countries like we’re experiencing now over in Ukraine. That’s where we’re headed if we don’t do something to stop it. And I don’t know what we do to stop it.”
Prosecutors mentioned they acquired a tip during plea negotiations with Johnson that he supposed to publish a memoir. His plea settlement contains an uncommon provision that requires him to relinquish compensation from any e-book, script, music, interview or product bearing his identify or likeness, for up to 5 years.
Prosecutors really helpful sentencing Johnson to three months’ imprisonment, one yr of supervised launch, a $5,000 fantastic and 60 hours of neighborhood service. Johnson’s attorneys requested the decide to sentence him to one yr of probation with credit score for the weekend that he spent in jail after his arrest.
The protection legal professionals mentioned Johnson did not know that the podium belonged to Pelosi when he moved it from a cloak room.
“Arguably, if he latched onto some other piece of government furniture for his photo opportunity jail time would not even be a consideration,” they wrote in a courtroom submitting.
Johnson was arrested two days after the lethal riot. He pleaded responsible in November to a cost of coming into and remaining in a restricted constructing or floor, a misdemeanor punishable by a most of 1 yr in prison.
Johnson was accompanied by a pal when he flew from Tampa, Florida, to Washington, D.C., to attend then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally. They ran to the Capitol after they realized that it had been breached. Johnson, after getting separated from his pal, climbed scaffolding earlier than he entered the constructing.
He jiggled the door deal with to an workplace that he believed belonged to Pelosi, nevertheless it was locked.
“Just across the hall and only twelve minutes earlier, several of the Speaker’s staffers had barricaded themselves in a different office, terrified,” a prosecutor wrote.
As Johnson watched rioters attempting to break down the doorways to the House Chamber, the place frightened lawmakers had been trapped, he shouted {that a} bust of George Washington would make “a great battering ram,” prosecutors mentioned.
“Thankfully, no one heeded his suggestion,” a prosecutor wrote.
More than 200 folks have pleaded responsible in the assault
Johnson, a stay-at-home father, is married to a medical physician and hasn’t had to work for the previous 11 years, prosecutors mentioned. They argued that the couple might afford to rent someone to care for his or her 5 school-age youngsters if he had been jailed.
Johnson and his spouse have acquired loss of life threats, his legal professionals mentioned.
“His wife’s medical practice suffered financially and some of Adam’s oldest friends will no longer speak to him or his family,” they wrote.
More than 750 folks have been charged with federal crimes associated to the riot. More than 200 of them have pleaded responsible, principally to misdemeanors. At least 100 riot defendants have been sentenced, and greater than 80 others have trial dates this yr.
