SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge Friday sentenced Utah activist John Earle Sullivan to six years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection.
Judge Royce C. Lamberth also sentenced Sullivan to 36 months supervised release about $2,500 in fees and restitution.
A jury last year convicted Sullivan of seven counts. That includes three charges related to carrying a weapon — a knife — and counts accusing him of interrupting Congress as it voted to certify the U.S. presidential election on Jan. 6, 2021.
Sullivan, 29, was one of the first people arrested after the riots and the first Utah riot defendant to take his case to trial. With an online presence known as Jayden X and Insurgence USA, Sullivan was a fixture at social justice protests in Utah in the summer of 2020.
Sullivan, testifying in his own defense, has maintained he went to the Capitol because he believed there would be a violent effort to stop the certification and he wanted to film the altercations. Court records say he sold his video footage to news outlets for $90,000.
But prosecuted used Sullivan’s own videos and words against him. He was heard on recordings encouraging the mob, at one point telling rioters, “I have a knife. I have a knife. Let me up.”
Prosecutors called to the witness stand a Salt Lake City-based FBI agent who interviewed Sullivan after he returned to Utah. They also called witnesses who testified in previous insurrection trials – a Capitol police officer who described the mob and violence and a Secret Service agent who discussed the threat the mob posed to then-Vice President Mike Pence.
At sentencing, prosecutors asked for 87 months in prison. The defense asked for just 30 months, arguing Sullivan’s role at the riot had been overstated and that his mental health had been suffering. Sullivan has been jailed his conviction.
Friday’s hearing may not be the final word on Sullivan’s conviction or sentence. His attorney has already told the court Sullivan plans to appeal.
Also, the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing whether an obstruction charge Sullivan was convicted of and which has been used to prosecute hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants is too broad. The court is expected to rule this summer.
