A Black Donald Trump supporter who federal agents say assaulted police officers at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced to more than five years in prison on Tuesday.
Mark Ponder, one of just four Washington residents arrested for their actions on Jan. 6, was given 63 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan.
To date his sentence is tied with Robert Scott Palmer for the longest imposed, who attacked law enforcement officers with a fire extinguisher.
According to contemporaneous report of the attack on the nation’s capital, Mark was believed to have committed crimes because he believed the former president’s lies about the 2020 presidential election.
Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell told the judge that Jan. 6 had changed his life forever. The government’s sentencing memo spells out how Mark “charged” Gonell, “waved [a] pole aggressively and then attacked” Gonell.
“Ponder struck the riot shield with such force that the pole snapped and broke apart as it made contact with the shield, and the top portion of the pole flew off to the side,” the sentencing memo said. “Ponder then retreated back into the crowd. The screenshot below captures this assault.”
