WASHINGTON: A District of Columbia man who admitted to attacking police officers outside the US Capitol was given a sentence on Tuesday that tied the previous record for the longest jail term for a person found guilty in the riot of January 6, 2021, at 63 months.
Mark Ponder, 56, was sentenced to five years and three months in federal prison as well as $2,000 in restitution and three years of supervised release, according to the US Department of Justice, which also announced the punishment.
Court records in the case show that after a series of altercations on the Capitol grounds on the afternoon of January 6, a crowd of supporters of then-President Donald Trump overcame police lines on the West Plaza of the building.
The resulting violence resulted in a number of fatalities, more than 140 police injuries, and a delay in the joint session of Congress declaring Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over Republican Donald Trump in the November 2020 presidential election.
