SALT LAKE CITY — A West Jordan man was sentenced to 17 months in prison Friday for assaulting police during the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
Justin D. Adams, 49, also received one year of supervised released, which is similar to probation in the federal court system. He pleaded guilty in August to a felony count of assaulting, resisting or impeding a federal officer.
Adams admitted to charging a police line and twice striking an officer in the helmet, as well as throwing a water bottle and helping pull a barricade from police.
In the sentencing request, prosecutors noted Adams wrote on social media before he traveled to Washington, “driving out to DC to smack a couple of politicians around.” Prosecutors also contend Adams was not forthcoming in an FBI interview when asked the names of the two men with whom he traveled.
Adams’ attorney asked that he be sentenced to the eight months he had already served. Adams was accused of resisting and assaulting the federal marshals who came to arrest him, but a Salt Lake City jury acquitted him of that charge in June. Adams has been free since that verdict.
Adams, who served in the Army, was hoping to continue treatment in a traumatic brain injury therapy at the Salt Lake City veterans hospital.
The defense says a 1998 motorcycle crash Adams him with a brain injury. That and claims the 2020 presidential election was stolen were factors that sent Adams to the Capitol, according to the defense sentencing memo.
Adams had previously sent a letter to the judge apologizing for what he did at the Capitol.
“I was taught young to be accountable for my actions, and accept the consequences for my actions,” Adams wrote.
Even with Friday's sentence, Adams is likely to be given credit for the eight months in jail.
