Oklahoma Army veteran gets probation for role in Jan. 6 US Capitol riot

A federal judge has put a U.S. Army veteran from Oklahoma on probation for three years for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Edward T. Spain Jr. also was chastised Wednesday for his social media posts before and after the riot.

In the days before, the Donald Trump supporter wrote on the right-leaning social media network Parler that civil war is imminent.

"ARM YOURSELVES WITH WEAPONS AND FIGHT FOR YOUR COUNTRY!!," he posted.

Afterward, he complained about the "sudden reversal on objections" in Congress to the Electoral College votes for Joe Biden.

"Not following the Constitution??? We Americans are no longer living in a free democracy, we are banana republic," he posted. "Its GO TIME! LOCK AND LOAD!! DO NOT LET GO OF YOUR GUNS!!"

U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich called the social media posts incendiary and troubling.

"I hope you appreciate now the kind of impact remarks like that by hundreds of thousands of people across the country can have on others," the judge said at his sentencing in federal court in Washington, D.C.

She said such remarks can "light up the mob."

"Even though you yourself did not use violence that day, others did. And these kinds of social media postings on the web contribute in a way and validate the feelings that that's OK. And it's especially hard to understand why you would express such views given your honorable service in the military."

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Spain, 56, of Chelsea, was charged in October. He pleaded guilty in February to a misdemeanor count of illegally demonstrating inside the U.S. Capitol.

The judge Wednesday also ordered Spain to complete 60 hours of community service, pay $500 in restitution and get mental health and substance abuse treatment. Three other misdemeanor counts against him were dismissed.

Prosecutors had asked for 30 days of incarceration in addition to the probation, community service and restitution. His defense attorney had asked for one year on probation.

Appearing by video, Spain spoke at first about being a proud American and his belief in constitutional rights. He eventually apologized and promised never to go into the U.S. Capitol again.

"I apologize to the people of the United States," he said. "I apologize to the government. I know that I shouldn't have went in there."

He said he doesn't own a gun.

"I was in the military and I got to shoot all the guns that I wanted to shoot," he said.

Spain was a soldier in the U.S. Army for eight years and a member of the U.S. National Guard for seven years, according to the government's sentencing memo.

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Spain is one of seven Oklahomans charged so far in the Capitol riot.

Thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump marched to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress met to formally count the Electoral College votes that had Biden winning the presidential election.

There, rioters overwhelmed Capitol police to breach the building.

Prosecutors told the judge in their sentencing memo that Spain traveled to Washington, D.C., with two friends on Jan. 5, 2021.

The next day, Spain and his friends went directly to the Capitol, rather than attend the “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House, prosecutors told the judge. He dropped off his two friends near the west front of the Capitol and told them not to go inside.

Spain spent about 30 minutes inside the Capitol, prosecutors alleged. As he left, "he encouraged several other rioters to go into the Rotunda and pushed them in that direction."

His defense attorney told the judge in a sentencing memo that Spain, like "many Americans," believed that the election was stolen from Trump. The attorney said Spain attended a rally on Jan. 5, 2021.

After being inside the Capitol, Spain wrote on social media: “I was there!! I will remember this day forever. What we did as Americans will live in Eternity!!”

He told the judge Wednesday he only went inside the Capitol after hearing on a police radio that a lady had been shot on the Senate floor.

There were no shots fired on the Senate floor. A Capitol police officer shot and killed a Trump supporter as she tried to enter the barricaded doors to the lobby of the House Chamber.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Army veteran gets probation for role in Jan. 6 Capitol riot