Michael Sparks, a civil war-promoting Capitol rioter who was the first person to illegally enter the United States Capitol on January 6th, 2021, was hit with a 53-month prison sentence on Tuesday after he told the court that he was "remorseful" that his attempt to block the certification of the 2020 election failed.
As reported by CBS News' Scott MacFarlane, Sparks told Judge Timothy Kelly during his sentencing hearing that he was "remorseful" about storming the Capitol but only because "it didn't help anything," and that he's also "remorseful our country is in the state that it's in."
He emphasized that he is "not remorseful that I went up there [to the Capitol] to make my voice heard."
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Kelly responded by informing Sparks that he believes January 6th was "a national disgrace" and told him that there "was nothing patriotic" about breaking into the Capitol.
"It snapped our previously unbroken record of the peaceful transition of power," Kelly emphasized. "I don't think you appreciate the full gravity of what happened that day."
Federal prosecutors had sought 57 months in prison for Sparks, who said he was willing to "die" for Trump.
