Kentuckian, first to breach the U.S. Capitol, sentenced to prison

A judge sentenced Kentuckian Michael Sparks, the first rioter to breach the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, this week to more than four years in prison.

A federal judge in Washington sentenced Sparks, 46, of Elizabethtown, to four years and five months in federal prison, where parole is not an option, court records show. Despite other rioters shouting "Don't do it," Sparks climbed through a Senate wing door that had been broken by rioters using a police shield.

Jurors convicted Sparks in March on several counts, including violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, the temporary office of the U.S. President.

Louisville resident and rioter Dan Edwin Wilson is scheduled to appear before a judge in Washington later today for his sentence hearing related to the Capitol breach.

This story will be updated.

Beth Warren can be reached at bwarren@courier-journal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentuckian, first to breach the U.S. Capitol, sentenced to prison