The US District Court for the District of Columbia sentenced Kentucky resident Luke Hoffman to twenty months imprisonment Friday for assaulting police officers during the January 6 Capitol Riot.

Hoffman’s sentence comes around five months after he pled guilty to violating 18 U.S.C. § 111(a), a Class D felony carrying a maximum sentence of eight years imprisonment, three years supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 or twice the greater of assaulter’s pecuniary gain or the victim’s pecuniary loss.

The defendant admitted in his plea agreement that he joined the riot around the time it was initially forming. At the time the police had set up a defensive perimeter between the rioters and the Capitol building. When Hoffman moved to the front of the crowd, “officers attempted to move a segment of metal fencing between themselves and the crowd.” Hoffman responded by lunging at the officers and snatching the fencing segment from them.

Around an hour later, the rioters had already breached the Capitol, pushing back the police’s defense perimeter while members of Congress evacuated the chambers. A police officer attempted to break up the riot by spraying the particularly aggressive rioters with pepper spray. Hoffman responded by spraying pepper spray back at the officer. Hoffman then moved up to the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol building, where he assisted other rioters in attacking police for more than twenty minutes. He conceded in his plea, “At one point, another rioter, clad in body armor and a helmet, climbed on top of Hoffman and several other rioters. As the armored rioter knelt on Hoffman’s shoulders, he used his elevated position to attack the officers inside the Tunnel with a wooden pole.” He also incited the rioters to breach the Lower West Terrance as he waved his hand overhead. Hoffman’s participation in the riot lasted for around two and a half hours.

Hoffman was eventually arrested at Dover, Kentucky on July 12, 2023.

In addition to Hoffman’s twenty month imprisonment sentence, he is required to have thirty six months of supervised release and to pay $2,000 in restitution to the Architect of the Capitol.

The US Attorney’s Office for DC reported:

In the 44 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,504 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 560 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony. The investigation remains ongoing.