A Texas man was sentenced Thursday to 14 months in prison over violent threats he made on social media from his hotel room in Washington related to the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Troy Smocks, 59, was the second person to be sentenced among those who have pleaded guilty to a felony tied to the Capitol riot. In particular, he pleaded guilty to one count of making a threat in interstate commerce.
“Prepare our weapons, and then go get’em. Lets hunt these cowards down like the Traitors that each of them are,” Smock admitted to saying on social media platform Parler. “This includes RINOS, Dems, and Tech Execs. We now have the green light. All who resist US are enemies of Our Constitution, and must be treated as such. Today, the cowards ran as We took the Capital. They have it back now, only because We left. It wasn’t the building that We wanted. . . it was them!”
FIRST JAN. 6 RIOTER SENTENCED FOR FELONY CHARGES GETS EIGHT MONTHS BEHIND BARS
Smocks, a black man, attempted to argue that he was treated more harshly because of his race, according to the Washington Post. However, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is also black, rejected the assertion.
“I have not seen a scintilla of evidence that prosecutors’ decisions have been racially motivated,” Chutkan told Smocks. “You come here and try to make yourself out as a victim of racism, and again, I find that offensive. … People protesting largely peacefully for the civil rights of a murdered unarmed man is not the same as an attempt to violently disrupt the operations of Congress. Those two are not the same, and that’s a false equivalency.”
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Chutkan said Smock’s lack of remorse over his actions and his `17 prior convictions, which included impersonating members of the military and the police, were justifications for her sentencing.
Smocks will serve five more months in prison, having already served eight months. Chutkan has agreed to let Smocks serve the rest of his sentence in Dallas.
