A federal judge sentenced Jan. 6 defendant Sean McHugh was sentenced to 78 months, or six and one-half years in prison Thursday, commenting that he used an "exceptionally dangerous weapon" when he attacked police with bear spray during the protests.
McHugh, 35, was convicted earlier this year of two felonies in connection with the riots, when he was found guilty after a stipulated bench trial of assaulting, impeding, or interfering with police and obstructing a congressional proceeding, according to KCRA, a Sacramento NBC affiliate.
McHugh went through a stipulated bench trial after he agreed to waive jury proceedings in favor of having the judge in the case determine his guilt or innocence based on the prosecution's statements.
He had been initially charged with 10 counts, after being accused of pushing a metal sign into Capitol Police officers and spraying them with bear spray, according to the Department of Justice, which said he was caught on officer body camera video during the attack.
Thursday, Judge John Bates, a senior judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, while sentencing McHugh, commented that the events of Jan. 6 "were a very serious threat to our Democratic values" and the "peaceful transfer of power," reports CBS News' Scott MacFarlane.
Bates added that McHugh "was at the very center of the riot and the mob action," and said he could have just "walked away."
"He was a verbal leader of the confrontation," Bates said, reports MacFarlane on X, formerly known as Twitter. "He brought a megaphone to presumably help in that effort. And he utilized the megaphone to urge on rioters and verbally abuse police."
Bates added that the bear spray McHugh used is "hazardous" as it is "capable of causing irreversible eye damage" and pointed out that McHugh "took pride in what he did" and bragged on social media about his actions, McFarlane reported.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.