Window-smashing MAGA rioter smacked down in court for claiming he was 'caught up in the moment'
A man who rioted at the United States Capitol on January 6th told a court on Friday that he had been "caught up in the moment" -- but the judge overseeing his case was not buying it.
As reported by NBC News' Ryan Reilly, MAGA rioter Hunter Ehmke pleaded for leniency during his sentencing hearing on the grounds that he had simply been swept up by a mob mentality -- despite the fact that he was caught on video smashing a window at the Capitol that allowed other rioters to enter the building.
In fact, according to Reilly, Ehmke's mother told the court on Friday that her son's actions that day were wholly consistent with the person she raised.
"Hunter was in fact caught up in the moment," she said. "He was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
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United States District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, however, was not buying this explanation and pointed to video evidence indicating that Ehmeke was an instigator of violence among the pro-Trump mob.
"I saw the videotape," she said. "I have read the statements of the officers who were present... I saw what happened.”
Chutkan also chastised Ehmeke for not expressing any remorse for how his actions affected others who were at the Capitol that day.
"I haven’t seen a single word or letter about the men and women fighting for their lives outside the Capitol," she said.
Ehmeke earlier this year pleaded guilty to a felony charge of destruction of government property for smashing in a window at the Capitol.
According to the United States Department of Justice, Ehmeke "kicked in the three lower panes of the window, shattering them" and then "smashed two additional windowpanes" with his fists."
An estimated cost of the window panes broken totaled $2,821.
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