An Auburn nurse has been sentenced for entering the U.S. Capitol during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
Chief Judge James Boasberg of U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia handed down on Thursday to 59-year-old Kimberly Sylvester to two 12-month probation sentences, to be served concurrently. She also will have to pay $500 in restitution and $20 in special assessments.
Sylvester was charged with parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building; and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds last December. She pleaded guilty to those charges in March.
Sylvester is the latest Mainer to be sentenced for their conduct during the riot at the U.S. Capitol when a mob loyal to Donald Trump attempted to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. Rioters assaulted police officers and caused millions in damage to the Capitol building. The total cost of the riot, including damage, investigations and security upgrades, is about $2.7 billion, according to the Government Accountability Office.
Sylvester was seen on security camera footage entering the Capitol through an already-open door and walking through several rooms.
She later told investigators she realized she shouldn’t be in the Capitol once she heard shouting and saw men trying to break down a door. In one encounter with a young man in a “Coon-skin hat,” Sylvester recounted him saying it was “a good day to ‘kill someone,’” according to her statement in the sentencing memo.
Sylvester approached a Capitol Police officer whom she asked to escort her from the building. But finding one exit blocked, Sylvester eventually had to find her own way out of the Capitol.
In the sentencing memo filed in court, her defense attorney, Marina Medvin, asked the judge for a fine of no more than $50 and just a few months of probation. Medvin wrote that Sylvester has “continuously expressed regret, embarrassment, and remorse” for her actions on Jan. 6, 2021.
Unlike the rioters who entered the Capitol that day, Sylvester didn’t touch or damage property and even “exchange pleasantries and engaged in nice conversations with police,” Medvin wrote.
“Had I known the full scope of events happening at that point, I would never had gotten any closer and certainly wouldn’t have stepped inside, for any reason,” Sylvester said in her statement.
