Five members of a Texas family were given prison terms on Wednesday for their involvement in the invasion of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Dawn and Thomas Munn were responsible for taking four of their eight children into the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, and Chief District Judge Beryl Howell of the District of Columbia sentenced them to 14 days in jail, three months of home confinement, and three years of probation. Three of their adult children received probationary terms of imprisonment, while the eldest, Kristi, also served a short stint in home confinement.
The Munn family of Borger, Texas, admitted to spending about an hour inside the Capitol on January 6, 2021, including time in a secret Senate conference room, and entered a guilty plea to a misdemeanor offense. On January 6, family members were accused of boasting about their accomplishments or of exaggerating the scale and breadth of the assault and the damage. It was said that one of the five had blamed the cops.
Howell described the security breach at the US Capitol as a “catastrophic breach” and said that the Munn family “participated in a mob that interrupted the democratic process” at the sentencing hearing on Wednesday. Thomas Munn “should’ve known better before driving the family into a volatile environment,” the court said.
Additionally, according to Howell, several of the family members “contributed to the disinformation concerning Jan. 6” via social media postings. In addition, she said that during her FBI interview, Kayli, the youngest of the family members indicted, evoked a “bogeyman” by saying she had seen Antifa at the Capitol on January 6.
Five family members are present in front of a federal court for sentence because the family vacation to Washington, D.C., on January 6 “got so far off the rails,” according to Howell.
Dawn Munn said that she still has concerns about the “security” and validity” of the 2020 election while pleading for mercy before sentence. According to her, “conservative and non-conservative ideals have split the nation.”
Her husband Thomas Munn admitted to the court, “I got myself overwhelmed.” Added he, “Before, I had never been political. I just continued to monitor the news to see what was occurring.”
Daughters Kristi and Kayli claimed their parents taught them “to do right” and realized they shouldn’t have visited the Capitol in separate messages pleading for forgiveness.
On January 6, Kayli Munn, 20, expressed to the court her desire for everyone to “stop” outside the Capitol. “We thought we were battling a monster in our thoughts.” Kayli did not immediately respond to the judge’s question on who she was referring to when she used the word “monster.”
The family was inside the Capitol building together with a third youngster who was under the age of 18. Dawn Munn said in court documents submitted before the sentencing hearing that a government stimulus check assisted in funding the vacation.
Dawn Munn, a nurse, Thomas Munn, a U.S. Army veteran, Joshua Munn, a janitor, and daughters Kristi Munn, 30, and Kayli Munn, were accused of breaking into the Capitol via a Senate wing door’s damaged glass.
Although Kristi Munn allegedly saw encounters between people and police, the Justice Department said that she and her family “continued to tour the Capitol building,” where they saw “rioters and cops assemble to the west of the building.”
The Munn family was seen in the crowd in the Justice Department’s security camera photographs. Thomas was seen strolling around the premises while puffing on a cigarette.
In a another image, one girl is shown sporting a camouflage jacket while the other is holding a Trump sign. Justice Department court documents contained a family picture taken near the Capitol with the face of the little kid covered.
Judge Howell mentioned a prior instance from January 6 in which a defendant had gotten a prison term for bringing a kid to the Capitol breach while announcing the punishments.
The Munn children received their sentences first, with their mother and father watching from the courtroom’s rear rows. The kids watched from a row in the back while the parents were sentenced later.