What did Josiah Colt do? Man seen dangling from senate balcony during Jan. 6 attack sentenced to 15 months

Josiah Colt, a 34-year-old Idaho man, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for his actions during the January 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. Colt pleaded guilty to obstruction of an official proceeding on July 14, 2021. According to a press release, the judge also ordered 36 months of supervised release and $1,000 in restitution.

According to court documents, Josiah Colt was one of the people who forced entry into the Capitol on the afternoon of January 6. This disrupted the joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

Josiah Colt was the first rioter to breach the Senate floor after leaping from a balcony, and the first person to plead guilty. He turned himself in days after the attack and publicly apologized for obstructing a congressional proceeding.

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Josiah Colt termed his actions and that of others a "tragedy"

Josiah Colt pleaded guilty in a cooperation deal with the government after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. Prosecutors said Colt and two men with him majorly "facilitated" the breach of the Capitol.

US District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich said evidence that the trio intended to obstruct Congress’s confirmation of the 2020 election result was the clearest of any case she has handled, The Washington Post reported.

Josiah Colt publicly apologized for his actions (Image via Twitter)

However, since Josiah Colt turned himself in just days after the riot and apologized for his actions, he was ordered less time in prison than the men with him that day, according to Friedrich.

She said:

"You were the first person in the January 6 investigation to cooperate, and that puts you in a very, very different posture than your co-conspirators."

Colt maintained that what he and others did was a "tragedy" and "a travesty that never should have happened." He said:

"There has to be a lot of forgiveness on both sides."

He added that the courts, Justice Department, and legal system had begun to restore his faith in the country’s institutions.

According to court papers, Josiah Colt did not act alone that day. He traveled to Washington, D.C., with Nathaniel DeGrave and Ronald Sandlin, who have been charged and sentenced separately in connection with the attack.

According to a press release, the trio tried to raise money to buy paramilitary gear and record themselves before entering the Capitol. They brought gas masks, helmets, shin guards, body armor, a handheld taser/stun gun, an expandable baton, walkie-talkies, knives, bear mace, and Colt’s Glock .43 pistol with them to the Washington Metropolitan Area.

On January 6, Colt left his firearm at his hotel but donned the protective gear and wore it into the Capitol.

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US Capitol attack: DeGrave and Sandlin also admit to assaulting police officers

Once the men arrived at the scene, DeGrave helped a mob force-open the East Rotunda doors from the inside. He and Sandlin then assaulted police officers and breached the Senate chamber that had just been evacuated by lawmakers. This was admitted by all the three men.

DeGrave was sentenced by Friedrich to 37 months in prison, following the recommendation of prosecutors, who charged him with obstructing and assaulting police.

The sentences for both charges were considerably lower than the 63 months that Sandlin, the alleged ringleader, received for the same offenses. Unlike the other defendants, Sandlin did not cooperate with the authorities.

According to the Department of Justice, more than 1,000 individuals have been arrested on charges related to the breach, including more than 320 individuals charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement. The investigation into the events of that day remains ongoing.