A Delaware man who, along with his father, was among the first people in the U.S. Capitol when a pro-Trump mob attacked it last year was sentenced to two years in prison Monday, prosecutors said.
Hunter Seefried, 24, in June was convicted by a Washington, D.C., judge on a felony count of obstruction of an official proceeding and other misdemeanor counts.
His father, Kevin Seefried, 53, who carried a Confederate flag during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, was convicted at the same trial, which was decided by a judge rather than a jury.
Hunter Seefried told U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden he was “deeply sorry for my actions” and “very ashamed of how I carried myself that day.”
He said that every day he carries the “shame and realization” that he participated in an event that’s a “stain” not only on his character, but on U.S. history.
Hunter Seefried cleared a piece of glass from a window as a mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol as Congress was formally counting the electoral votes affirming that Trump had lost the presidential election, officials said.
The Seefrieds, of Laurel, Delaware, “were among the first people to enter the Capitol on January 6,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said in a statement.
Kevin Seefried's sentencing is scheduled for January in front of McFadden, a 2017 Trump appointee.
When asked Monday by McFadden how he came to participate in the events of Jan. 6, Hunter Seefried responded: “The crowd, the energy. It’s just very overwhelming.”
Hunter Seefried and his lawyer, Edson Bostic, also partially blamed the elder Seefried for encouraging his son’s behavior, although Hunter Seefried, who was 21 on Jan. 6, admitted he was old enough to know better.
“The common charge of a parent is to help prevent a young child from acting impulsively,” Bostic told McFadden earlier in the hearing, implying that Kevin Seefried had failed at that parental duty by pressuring his son to storm the Capitol.
Kevin Seefried was photographed carrying a large Confederate flag through the halls of the Capitol, instantly becoming the subject of an iconic image from the riot.
McFadden called Jan. 6 a “national embarrassment” that Hunter Seefried participated in. “I believe you are a good man who messed up badly,” McFadden said.
Prosecutors had asked that Hunter Seefried be sentenced to 64 months, or over 5 years, in prison, according to a sentencing memorandum filed by the government ahead of Monday’s hearing.
