An Indiana grandmother became the first individual sentenced for participating in the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot but will avoid jail time, according to The Washington Post.
Anna Morgan Lloyd of Bloomfield, Indiana, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth to three years of probation, 120 hours of community service, and $500 worth of restitution for her involvement in the Capitol Riot, according to The Washington Post. The 49-year-old previously struck a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge of unlawfully entering the Capitol building, The Washington Post reported.
In a previous Facebook post, Lloyd described Jan. 6 as the “best day ever,” The Associated Press (AP) reported. However, Lloyd told Lamberth during a court appearance, “I’m ashamed that it became a savage display of violence that day. And I would have never been there if I had a clue it was going to turn out that way,” according to The AP. “It was never my intent to be a part of anything that’s so disgraceful to our American people,” she added in her apology to the court.
Lloyd claimed she was invited by her hairdresser to Washington D.C. to watch former President Donald Trump speak, and only wanted to peacefully support the then-president, her attorney argued in court documents, according to The AP.
In a letter to the judge asking for leniency, the grandmother of five also said that she has “lived a sheltered life and truly haven’t experienced life the way many have,” and is working on self-improvement, The AP noted.
The prosecutors who sought probation for Lloyd noted that she was not involved in any violence or destruction, or planned to breach the Capitol building beforehand, according to The AP.
Lamberth claimed that Lloyd was getting a “break” by only getting probation, and signaled to others that this would not be the normal sentence for Capitol rioters, The AP reported. “Some of my defendants in my other cases think there’s no consequence to this. There is a consequence. And it bothers me,” Lamberth said, according to WUSA9. “I don’t want to create the perception here that probation is the automatic sentence because it’s not going to be,” he added.
#CapitolRiot: Later today, a plea + sentencing hearing is scheduled for Anna Morgan-Lloyd. The Indiana grandmother of five will be the first person sentenced in connection with January 6. @wusa9 @EricFlackTV https://t.co/VZogcf4fnX
— Jordan Fischer (@JordanOnRecord) June 23, 2021
“Legally, I could give you the six months, but is that really what we want our judiciary to do?” Lamberth told Lloyd, according to The AP.
“This wasn’t a peaceful demonstration the way it turned out. It was not an accident,” Lamberth stated, according to The AP. “There were millions of people in this country that saw what happened on Jan. 6 and that saw what you saw and what you just described: a disgrace to our country.” (RELATED: Capitol Rioter Who Threatened To Kill His Family Becomes First To Face Weapons Charges Under Riot Law)
In the immediate aftermath of the events of Jan. 6, Democrats have called the Capitol Riot an insurrection and assault on American democracy. “What happened at the U.S. Capitol yesterday was an insurrection against the United States, incited by the president,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a Jan. 7 statement. Then-president-elect Joe Biden said that the Capitol Riot was “one of the darkest days in the history of our nation” and that it amounted to an “unprecedented assault on our democracy.”