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Paul Allard Hodgkins on 6 January this year. PA

US Capitol rioter sentenced to eight months in jail

Paul Allard Hodgkins apologised and said he was ashamed of his actions on 6 January.

A MAN WHO breached the US Senate chamber on 6 January carrying a Trump campaign flag has been sentenced to eight months behind bars, the first resolution for a felony case in the Capitol insurrection.

Paul Allard Hodgkins apologised and said he was ashamed of his actions earlier this year.

Speaking from a prepared text, he described being caught up in the euphoria as he walked down Pennsylvania Avenue and followed a crowd of hundreds up Capitol Hill and into the Capitol building.

“If I had any idea that the protest … would escalate [the way] it did … I would never have ventured farther than the sidewalk of Pennsylvania Avenue,” Hodgkins told the judge.

He added: “This was a foolish decision on my part.”

Prosecutors had asked for 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 politicians to temporarily abandon their certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory over then-president Donald Trump and to seek shelter from incoming mobs.

His sentencing could set the bar for punishments of hundreds of other defendants as they decide whether to accept plea deals or go to trial.

He and others are accused of serious crimes but were not indicted, as some others were, for roles in larger conspiracies.

Under an agreement with prosecutors, Hodgkins, who is from Florida, pleaded guilty last month to one count of obstructing an official proceeding, which carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence.

In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop lesser charges, including entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct.

Video footage shows Hodgkins 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 lawyer pleaded with Judge Randolph Moss to spare his 38-year-old client time in prison, saying the shame that will attach to Hodgkins for the rest of his life should be factored in as punishment.

The lawyer argued in court papers that Hodgkins’ actions were not 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 misdemeanour 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.

But they also noted how he boarded a bus in his hometown of Tampa bound for a 6 January 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, 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.

Hodgkins’ lawyer, Patrick N 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.

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    Mute Welk wrangler
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:21 PM

    Dublin Bay, like swimming in a septic tank.

    221
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    Mute Paul Gorry
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    Jul 20th 2021, 10:20 PM

    @Welk wrangler: whaa?ye can swim in a septic tank?

    29
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    Mute David Clements
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    Jul 20th 2021, 10:25 PM

    @Welk wrangler: it’s not in Dublin bay.

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    Mute Ronan Duffy
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    Jul 21st 2021, 12:05 AM

    @Welk wrangler: As kids, we used to describe swimming in Dublin Bay as going through the motions

    25
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    Mute gofreak
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:56 PM

    There’s been, on and off, a noticeable smell of beachy sewerage wafting in over the city from the bay in last few days and nights. I wonder if ringsend has been overflowing again? You would think with greens in government they might do something to accelerate the works necessary to clean up and keep the bay clean.

    122
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    Mute John Buckley
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    Jul 20th 2021, 10:49 PM

    @gofreak: IW are in the planning system for a new treatment plant for years but people keep objecting to the planning and then bringing it through the legal system. This is not the Greens that are objecting so how do you see that they are to blame.

    30
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    Mute gofreak
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    Jul 20th 2021, 11:00 PM

    @John Buckley: it’s merely an expression of exasperation. That what hope is there, when even with greens at the height of power we can’t have a clean bay. Re. planning issues, when it comes to the city literally stinking of shit, you’d think there could be an emergency mechanism to approve of the works needed at ringsend. It’ll become a matter of public health if it continues to unaddressed.

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    Mute Alan Plunkett
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    Jul 20th 2021, 11:14 PM

    @John Buckley: woll u go and ask my bollix u tool

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    Mute Uncle Montys oaf
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    Jul 20th 2021, 8:39 PM

    Uh-oh, covid 21 on the way !

    52
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    Mute Tommy Berry
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    Jul 20th 2021, 8:47 PM

    @Uncle Montys oaf: You don’t really understand medicine, do you?

    94
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    Mute Gerard Heery
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:21 PM

    @Tommy Berry: no but he’s good at mathes

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    Mute Shane Wilson
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    Jul 20th 2021, 11:05 PM

    @Gerard Heery: mathes

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    Mute Mary Nugent
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    Jul 21st 2021, 2:17 AM

    @Uncle Montys oaf: four or 5 more rounds over the next few years.

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    Mute 2thFairy
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    Jul 21st 2021, 10:40 AM

    @Gerard Heery: no. He only knows what year it is.

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    Mute John fitzpatrick
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    Jul 21st 2021, 1:21 AM

    Time the greens take a break from EVs and bicycle Lanes and give some time to cleaning up our Coast
    Time to build proper Sewage treatment plant that do what it’s supposed to do,
    The more house’s and apartments the more poo.
    This constant pollution in our coastal Waters is shocking .

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    Mute Rebecca BarrettNp
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    Jul 20th 2021, 10:02 PM

    The anti-mask brigade will be queuing up to jump in tomorrow!

    38
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    Mute Ronan Lawler
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    Jul 20th 2021, 8:42 PM

    Seagull excretion :)

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    Mute Alex Marquis
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:21 PM

    @Ronan Lawler: because trawlers are throwing sardines into the sea.

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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:54 PM

    @Ronan Lawler: did you know that a blue whale excrete 40 gallons of sperm in one ej@culation. Think about that lol.

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    Mute Rob Jones
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    Jul 20th 2021, 11:29 PM

    @Anna Carr: and 200 litres in one poop.

    7
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    Mute Paul Gorry
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    Jul 21st 2021, 12:12 AM

    @Anna Carr: Thankfully it’s not a blue whale destroying me car every morning. Up the fecking seagulls.

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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Jul 21st 2021, 8:46 AM

    @Paul Gorry: haha

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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Jul 21st 2021, 8:46 AM

    @Rob Jones: ewww lol

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    Mute Darren Carroll
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    Jul 21st 2021, 1:47 AM

    Great job Irish water ….now I see why I should pay for you twice

    20
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    Mute Vonvonic
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    Jul 20th 2021, 8:40 PM

    Mother of the limping Christ; these pathogens have the place destroyed

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    Mute Martin O Connell
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:28 PM

    That’s not good news in this heat.

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    Mute Aidan Conway
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    Jul 20th 2021, 10:21 PM

    Thats poo

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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:52 PM

    Lovely!!!

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    Mute William Tallon
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:21 PM

    E. coli? Sounds more like a computer virus rather than a type of bacterium. Not a pleasant experience if you become infected I imagine. Probably what caused the HSE to poop itself back in May…

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Jul 21st 2021, 5:53 PM

    @William Tallon: It’s not pleasant at all. I know I couldn’t eat for a few months, felt like my shins would snap, and had to have a tube down my throat to check that it wasn’t an ulcer instead of e-coli. If I’d been swimming there yesterday I’d be dousing myself in everything anti-bacterial.

    3
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