A Washington resident was sentenced on July 26 to more than five years in prison, matching the longest term of imprisonment so far among hundreds of Capitol breach prosecutions.
Mark Ponder, 56, said he “got caught up” in the chaos that erupted on 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, asking her for mercy before she sentenced him to five years and three months in prison.
Chutkan said Ponder was “leading the charge” against police officers trying to hold off the crowd that disrupted Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory….