Capitol rioter sentenced to 63 months in prison
A man who attacked police officers with poles during the riot at the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Tuesday to more than five years in prison, matching the longest term of imprisonment so far among hundreds of Capitol riot prosecutions.
Mark Ponder, 56, a resident of Washington, D.C., said he “got caught up” in the chaos that erupted Jan. 6, 2021, and “didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
“I wasn’t thinking that day,” Ponder told U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan before she sentenced him to five years and three months in prison.
That was three months longer than the prison sentence requested by prosecutors. And it’s the same sentence that Chutkan gave Robert Palmer, a Florida man who also pleaded guilty to assaulting police at the Capitol.
Chutkan said Ponder was “leading the charge” against police officers trying to hold off the mob that disrupted Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
“This is not ‘caught up,’ Mr. Ponder,” she said. “He was intent on attacking and injuring police officers.”
Chutkan has consistently taken a hard line in punishing Capitol rioters. She has handed down terms of imprisonment to all 13 riot defendants who have come before her, matching or exceeding the Justice Department’s sentencing recommendation in every case, according to an Associated Press review of court records.
The sentences for Ponder and Palmer may not be the lengthiest for much longer. Prosecutors are seeking a 15-year term for Guy Reffitt, a Texas man convicted of storming the Capitol with a holstered handgun. U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich is scheduled to sentence Reffitt on Monday.