When Nashville real estate broker and one-time House candidate Stewart Parks was convicted on Jan. 6 riot charges of trespassing and theft and sentenced to eight months in the Memphis Federal Correctional Institute, he expected the worst.

“When I went in, the plan was I was just gonna keep my head down low and good time my way out,” Parks, 31, said. “I wasn’t gonna tell anybody like, ‘Hey, I’m Jan. 6.’”