Mark Ponder, who assaulted police officers on Jan. 6, sentenced to 63 months in prison
CBSN
Washington — A Washington, D.C., man was sentenced Tuesday to 63 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to assaulting three police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department announced.
The man, Mark Ponder, 56, was arrested in March 2021 in Washington and pleaded guilty in April to assaulting, resisting or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon.
Federal prosecutors said that on the afternoon of Jan. 6, as the mob of former President Donald Trump's supporters descended upon the Capitol, Ponder swung a long, thin pole at a U.S. Capitol Police officer responding to the rioters on the building's West Plaza. The officer, who was not identified, raised his riot shield above his head to protect himself, and Ponder struck the shield with his pole, snapping it in two, according to his plea agreement.
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