Jan. 6 Prisoner Gets His Sentence Reduced Thanks to Supreme Court Ruling
A former Virginia police officer who was present at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, received a reduced prison sentence of six years on Wednesday, making him one of the first beneficiaries of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that limited the government’s use of a federal obstruction law.
More than two years ago, former Rocky Mount Police Sgt. Thomas Robertson originally was sentenced to seven years and three months of imprisonment for joining the Capitol incursion.
Prosecutors urged U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper to preserve the original sentence, but the judge imposed the shorter prison term Wednesday after agreeing to dismiss Robertson’s conviction.
Robertson was the first Capitol incursion defendant to be re-sentenced after the dismissal of a conviction for the obstruction charge at the center of the Supreme Court’s ruling in June, according to Justice Department prosecutors. The high court ruled 6-3 that a charge of obstructing an official proceeding must include proof that a defendant tried to tamper with or destroy documents.
“I assume I won’t be seeing you a third time,” the judge told Robertson at the end of his second sentencing hearing.
Robertson, who declined to address the court at his first sentencing hearing, told the judge on Wednesday that he looks forward to returning home and rebuilding his life after prison.
A jury convicted Robertson of all six counts in his indictment, including charges that he interfered with police officers during a civil disorder and that he entered a restricted area with a dangerous weapon, a large wooden stick. Robertson’s jury trial was the second among hundreds of Jan. 6 cases.
Robertson traveled to Washington on that morning with another off-duty Rocky Mount police officer, Jacob Fracker, and a third man, a neighbor who was not charged in the case.
Fracker, who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and agreed to cooperate with the government, was sentenced in 2022 to probation and two months of home detention.
Prosecutors said Robertson used his law enforcement and military training to block police officers who were trying to hold off the advancing crowd.
Defense attorney Mark Rollins said Robertson made bad choices and engaged in bad behavior on Jan. 6, but was not trying to “overthrow democracy” that day.
“What you find now is a broken man,” Rollins said.
The town fired Robertson and Fracker after the events of Jan. 6. Rocky Mount is about 25 miles south of Roanoke, Virginia, and has about 5,000 residents.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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