A former officer with the Houston Police Department, who was employed at the time of the Capitol insurrection but has since resigned, has been sentenced to 45 days in prison for their participation in that violence. The individual in question is Tam Dinh Pham, who U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelley observed to have “added an air of legitimacy to what happened that day because” of his status as a police officer. D.C. journalist Eric Flack reported Pham to have been tearful during his sentencing hearing, where he told the judge that he was “so sorry” for what he did.
Pham was not accused of directly perpetrating violence at the Capitol building. Instead, he pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor count of illegally parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol, which comes with a sentence of up to six months in jail. As reported by Flack, the judge “told Pham he strongly considered giving him probation, noting that, overall, he played a minor role in the riot and lost his job and pension as a consequence.” However, the judge “was bothered by Pham’s seeming unwillingness to take full responsibility for his actions,” as the journalist further explained. Pham characterized himself — in an echo of rhetoric that other Capitol rioters have used — as having “stupidly followed people in the Capitol.”
BREAKING: DC fed judge (and Trump appointee) Dabney Friedrich issues ruling upholding prosecutors’ use of obstruction statute to cover obstruction of Congress' Electoral College tabulation session on Jan. 6. Doc: https://t.co/hufQ3xiBQz #CapitolRiot
— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) December 10, 2021
Although Pham’s time in prison will be on the shorter side, other individuals who were involved in the violence are facing substantially steeper sentences. Although the exact sentence is up to the judge in his case, federal prosecutors have requested a sentence of over five years in jail for Capitol rioter Robert Palmer, who assaulted police around the Capitol back in January and was observed to have “lacked remorse,” as reporter Scott MacFarlane put it. More serious charges that have been levied against individuals tied to the violence include obstruction of an official proceeding and assaulting an officer with a dangerous weapon — and each of those counts, individually, come with potential sentences of up to 20 years behind bars, if convicted of the offense.
Reuters: U.S. HOUSE PANEL PROBING JAN. 6 CAPITOL RIOT ISSUES SIX MORE SUBPOENAS, INCLUDING TOP TRUMP WHITE HOUSE AIDES
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 10, 2021
Meanwhile, former President Trump continues to push the lies about the integrity of the election that inspired the rioters, and he also remains in defense of the rioters themselves — including even those that directly advocated for and perpetrated savage violence. He has repeatedly sought to excuse what happened as merely a logical outgrowth of outrage over the imaginary systematic fraud that he claims was responsible for Biden’s presidential election victory.
Some people question whether Trump directly incited the Capitol riot, but by calling 1/6 a protest and Election Day “the real insurrection,” he’s claimed political ownership of it, not only for himself, but for the party he commands.
— Christian Vanderbrouk (@UrbanAchievr) December 11, 2021
