A Tennessee man who scaled the side of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and entered the building through a door with a broken window was sentenced to four years in federal prison Friday, according to NBC News.
Matthew Bledsoe — who asked, "Where's those pieces of s*** at?" as he entered the Capitol — was found guilty by a jury in July after he was unable to convince them that he didn’t know Congress was certifying the 2020 presidential election at the time he entered.
Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell handed down the sentence on Friday, telling Bledsoe, "You knew what was going on."
Saying Bledsoe "made self-serving statements that minimized his participation and conduct," prosecutors sought 70 months, or more than 5 1/2 years, in federal prison, but Howell said sentencing him to 70 months would create a disparity with other Jan. 6 cases.
She instead sentenced Bledsoe to 48 months, given his conduct that day.
Bledsoe apologized for "letting my emotions get the best of me" prior to sentencing and said he regrets a lot of what happened on Jan. 6.
Howell brought up comments that were posted to a fundraiser for Bledsoe and said it was his criminal conduct, and not a corrupt judicial system, that was to blame.
"I do view this as a very serious case, and you are facing serious prison time," Howell said. "It's hard to reconcile the image of you today, Mr. Bledsoe, with the image of you on that tape.
"Your words, your actions that day were clear," the judge added, saying it was hard to believe he didn't know that the mob he joined was referring to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when it chanted "Nancy, Nancy."
Telling Howell on Friday that it was still "very early on" in the Jan. 6 investigation, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie Carter said it was not "unreasonable" to expect the Justice Department to ultimately charge more than 2,000 people in connection with the Capitol breach. Carter said the government was trying to find more manpower and funding to bring the cases to completion.
It is estimated that approximately 3,000 people entered the U.S. Capitol or assaulted law enforcement officers outside, according to NBC.
Of the 870 people arrested over the events of Jan. 6 thus far, more than 350 have been sentenced, according to the news outlet.
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