Two Connecticut women sentenced in U.S. Capitol riot

Mother, 57, gets 5 weekends in jail; daughter, 20, gets home confinement

A Connecticut woman who stormed the U.S. Capitol during the January 2021 insurrection was sentenced Friday to five weekends in jail, 60 days of home confinement and a $2,500 fine, while her daughter will serve 90 days of home confinement.

Jean Lavin, 57, and her daughter, Carla Krzywicki, 20, appeared at separate sentencing hearings before a federal judge in Washington. Both pleaded guilty in January to a misdemeanor charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell also said the Canterbury, Conn., residents will serve three years of probation and pay restitution of $500 apiece to the Architect of the Capitol, to help pay for the nearly $1.5 million in damage done to the building by supporters of former President Donald Trump who tried to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

The two women were arrested in September after an unidentified tipster told the FBI that Krzywicki posted two photos on Facebook of herself and her mother outside the Capitol and of the scene inside the building, according to court documents. Krzywicki said in a previous court hearing that she removed the photos after realizing the seriousness of the situation.

Lavin and Krzywicki said they traveled to Washington on a bus trip from Norwich to hear Trump speak, but arrived too late and missed the speech. Photos of the women shows them inside the Capitol and Lavin carrying a sign that read “Trump Won” on one side and “Don’t allow 7 states of cheaters to hijack our election!” on the other.

Lavin’s lawyer, public defender Charles Wilson, declined to comment after the sentencing Friday. He wrote in court documents that Lavin was inside the Capitol for about 30 minutes. She had no plans that day other than to see Trump speak, and now recognizes that entering the Capitol was wrong, he wrote.

Krzywicki’s attorney, H. Heather Shaner, said her client accompanied her mother to Washington because her mother’s friend had decided not to make the trip and Krzywicki was worried about her mother’s heart condition. Shaner said Krzywicki is not political and if anything is liberal-leaning.

“If anything good came of Jan. 6,” Shaner said, “it was whatever spell her mother had over her … was broken. She’s sweet, she’s kind and very responsible.”

2 MEN PLEAD GUILTY

In another development, two New York men pleaded guilty Friday to discharging chemical spray at police officers inside the U.S. Capitol during the riot.

Cody Mattice, 29, and James Mault, 30, each admitted to breaking through police barriers and entering the building during a trip to Washington they had planned for several days and prepared for by acquiring batons and pepper spray.

Under plea agreements with federal prosecutors, each faces between 37 and 46 months in prison after pleading guilty to felony charges. Each also will pay $2,000 toward the cost of repairing the Capitol. Sentencing is scheduled for July 15.

Mattice and Mault, both from the Rochester area, were indicted in October after authorities said they appeared in photos and videos spraying a chemical agent toward police officers in a Capitol building hallway.

Mault was arrested in Fort Bragg, N.C., where he had been stationed with the U.S. Army. Mattice was arrested at his home in Hilton, N.Y.

The two appeared at a joint hearing Friday before U. S. District Judge Beryl Howell, Mault in person and Mattice remotely. Both acknowledged exchanging text messages in the days before the insurrection, with Mault telling Mattice and others in a group to bring batons, knives, “ass-kicking boots” and protective clothing.

Once at the Capitol, Mault tried to persuade police officers to join the rioters, assuring them they would still have jobs “after we kick the (expletive) out of everyone,” according to the plea agreement.

“What we’re doing is right,” he told the officers, “or there wouldn’t be this many … people here.”

In exchange for their guilty pleas, prosecutors agreed to drop additional felony charges.