Left: Michael Sparks, the very first rioter to breach the building, on surveillance footage from the Capitol. Top right: Sparks in trial exhibit shown entering through window. Bottom right: Circled in red in Justice Department exhibit, rioter Sparks approaches police next to fellow rioters Kevin and Hunter Seefried. Kevin Seefried is carrying a Confederate flag. (All images via DOJ court filings.)
Following a weeklong trial in Washington, D.C., Michael Sparks, the very first rioter to breach the Capitol on Jan. 6 — he climbed through a window smashed apart by none other than convicted Proud Boys member Dominic Pezzola — has been found guilty on six charges, including felony obstruction of an official proceeding and civil disorder.
The Kentucky resident came before jurors in the nation’s capital for a week before they rendered a guilty verdict across six counts. Besides the felony charges, Sparks was also convicted of misdemeanor offenses including entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
According to a statement of facts, Sparks got into the Capitol as the first rioter to breach the building, squeezing through the broken shards of a Senate wing window that was smashed open with a police riot shield stolen by Pezzola. As law enforcement screamed for him not go any further, prosecutors said Sparks charged ahead undeterred as he joined rioters who chased U.S. Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman.
Justice Department court records show footage of Michael Sparks approaching Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, left. Sparks is circled in red on right in a chaotic scene from the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
As Goodman retreated further into the Capitol where he knew he could find backup, prosecutors said Sparks was insistent on following and ignored requests to leave.
“Instead, he walked to the front of the ground and confronted the officer they had chased up the stairs. He yelled, ‘This is our America! This is our America!’ as he grew increasingly agitated,” a statement from the Justice Department notes.
Sparks’ identity was first made known to police a day after the Capitol assault. An individual called the FBI’s National Threat Operation Center and identified him as the first rioter inside. On Jan. 8, 2021, the tipster was interviewed and disclosed that she had heard Sparks discuss plans to travel to Washington, D.C., for Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally.
“This time we’re going to shut it down,” Sparks had said, according to the woman.
A few days later, as police began poring over the footage of the first rioters to breach, and in particular, footage of those rioters who chased Goodman through the building, prosecutors said they saw and heard Sparks on recordings telling officers to leave their posts and pointing his finger in their faces.
A second and then a third tipster also reported Sparks to the FBI when in the days after Jan. 6 he took to Facebook to post pro-Trump messages.
“A new dawn is coming. Be ready. Just pray and trust in the Lord,” he wrote.
In another Facebook post, Sparks added: “TRUMP WILL BE YOUR PRESIDENT 4 more years in JESUS NAME. No need to reply to this just be ready for a lot of big events. Have radios for power loss etc. Love every body.”
He was arrested on Jan. 19, 2021 and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
At his criminal trial this month, jurors heard about Sparks’ steady obsession with Trump’s bogus claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, NBC reported. By the time now-President Joe Biden was declared the victor in November, Sparks was online crowing about the former president and chatting on Parler about reports of fraud.
He also came to Washington, D.C., ahead of Jan. 6. He was in town for the Dec. 12, 2020, “Stop the Steal” rally that turned violent that night as Proud Boys and counterprotesters clashed in the street. Sparks reportedly only recorded and watched a speech from Trump ally and “MyPillow Guy” Mike Lindell.
As the weeks flicked past, Sparks was increasingly active on social media, posting missives about voter “fraud” and encouraging others through his own fierce rhetoric to reject the results.
On Jan. 1, 2021, Sparks started openly declaring the need for violent conflict.
“Yes we want a civil war to be clear,” he wrote on Parler, NBC reported.
Sparks was ready to die for Trump as well. At least, that’s what he proclaimed on his Facebook account: “The votes were stolen. You will have time to fight for what you believe in, As for me I believe in the constitution so I’ll die fir it. Trump is my president.”
Sparks defense attorney Scott Wendelsdorf conceded that his client was guilty of misdemeanor trespassing and disorderly conduct but at trial, the lawyer maintained that Sparks had merely been overzealous and ultimately led astray on Jan. 6.
He was being blamed for violence he didn’t commit and he left the Capitol once he realized that the rioters weren’t going to convince then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn Trump’s defeat.
“Sparks may have started the game, according to the government, but he was out of the game on the sidelines before the first quarter was over,” Wendelsdorf told the jury, the AP reported.
Prosecutors, however, rebuffed this as naive, noting how three days before the Capitol attack, he boasted on Facebook about how it was “time to drag” lawmakers out of Congress “by there face.” He boasted about his plans for violence to his friends in text messages.
Sparks had also come to Washington, D.C., with a friend and co-worker, Joseph Howe, and together, donning tactical gear, the men attended Trump’s rally before they hauled off toward the Capitol to stop lawmakers from certifying the election.
Howe, according to the Justice Department, was sentenced in October on two felony counts after he struck a plea deal in August 2023 to obstructing an official proceeding and assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement officers. He was seen in footage roving through the Capitol, grabbing a fire extinguisher and then spraying it at police directly in their faces.
Sparks will be sentenced July 9 before U.S. District Judge Tim Kelly, a Trump appointee.
Kelly is responsible for handing down some of the longest sentences to emerge in the wake of Jan. 6 after he presided over the Proud Boys seditious conspiracy trial. He sentenced Pezzola, who smashed the window Sparks crawled through, to 10 years in prison in September. The leader of the Proud Boys, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, was sentenced to 22 years.
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