Judge waxes on punishment propriety at sentencing of Capitol rioter

WASHINGTON (CN) — A federal judge sentenced a Capitol rioter to one year of probation on Monday, calling it abnormal for someone with a nonviolent misdemeanor to get prison time. 

“In my experience as a judge and a former prosecutor, it’s almost unheard of for someone who is a first-time offender to get jail time for a nonviolent misdemeanor,” U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden said, emphasizing that he has had to think about how misdemeanors are handled in the general sense, not just in the context of the Jan. 6 insurrection. 

Prosecutors had asked McFadden to give Kevin Cordon one month in jail, citing an interview Cordon did with a Finnish newspaper in which he expressed support, not remorse, about entering the Capitol building through a broken window.

“We’re here to take back our democratic republic,” Cordon told the interviewer, while wearing an American flag as a cape and a black ballistic vest. “We’re standing up and we’re taking our country back. This is just the beginning.”

McFadden told Cordon that this wasn’t the first time that Americans have believed an election was stolen: There were false claims circulating that George Bush didn’t win in 2004 and false claims that Donald Trump didn’t win in 2016. 

“These were harmful claims, but people didn’t react by breaking into the Capitol,” McFadden said, telling Cordon that instead, they peacefully protested, got more involved in politics and doubled down on efforts to win the next election. “Breaking into the U.S. Capitol is not an option.”

McFadden was appointed to the bench by Trump, who was later impeached for insisting against all evidence that the 2020 election had been stolen from him. One the day of the insurrection, as both chambers of Congress gathered to certify Trump's loss, Trump brought his followers to a Stop the Steal rally.

Cordon's sentence to one year of probation came after McFadden handed a sentence of just one month probation on Friday sentenced the defendant's brother, Sean Carlo Cordon, who did not do a media interview. 

“As I told your brother last week, you participated in a shameful event that was a national embarrassment,” McFadden said.

Cordon apologized to the American people, to himself, to his family and to the thousands of peaceful protesters “whose voices were trampled by a small minority.” 

“It was unequivocally a foolish action, it was a complete lack of judgment,” Cordon said.

Earlier on Monday, William Blauser, a Pennsylvania man who entered the Capitol with Pauline Bauer, pleaded guilty to unlawful, picketing, parading or demonstrating in a Capitol building. 

Though they are co-defendants, Blauser is well on his way to putting his court appearances behind him, while Bauer still has a long road ahead. Bauer, who has insisted on representing herself, has been locked up in jail for snubbing her pretrial services officer and making nonsensical outbursts in court.

Blauser is set to be sentenced on Feb. 3, 2022.

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