Peyton resident Thomas Patrick Hamner has been sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison for participating in the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Federal prosecutors charged Hamner, who was arrested last November, with six counts, including five felonies. In May he pled guilty to one: interfering with law enforcement during a civil disruption. His legal trouble will continue as prosecutors make their case against him on the other counts.
Hamner was identified in images from the riot wearing a black helmet and a distinctive Christmas-style sweater that read, "Guns don't kill people, Clintons do." Videos show him fighting with police over a makeshift barricade they had erected out of bike racks. He later appears alongside other rioters using a large metal Trump sign to try and break through the officers' defenses.
Someone who knows Hamner identified him to law enforcement last year, after he was included in the FBI’s deck of images showing riot participants. Officers then compared the images from the riot to other pictures he had posted on social media, including an online restaurant review.
In addition to his 30-month sentence, Hamner has been ordered to spend two years on supervised probation and pay $2000 in restitution.
