Man who broke Capitol window in Jan. 6 riots sentenced to 8 years in prison

Nov. 8 (UPI) -- A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a man who was convicted of smashing a door window inside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots to eight years in prison.

Zachary Jordan Alam, 32, also was given 36 months of supervised release and ordered to pay 4,484 in restitution in a sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich.

Prosecutors said the actions of Alam, from Centerville, Va., disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress set to count the electoral votes to the 2020 presidential election.

Alam was convicted on Sept. 12 of eight felony counts, including assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers; assaulting and resisting or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon.

Also, civil disorder and destruction of government property; obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting; entering and remaining in a restricted building with a deadly or dangerous weapon and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building with a deadly or dangerous weapon.

"A significant sentence is needed 'to afford adequate deterrence to criminal conduct' by others," prosecutors said in previous court documents. "The need to deter others is especially strong in cases involving domestic terrorism, which the breach of the Capitol certainly was."

Alam broke the glass of the Speaker Lobby's door window just before Ashli Babbitt attempted to climb through and was fatally shot by Capitol Police.

Alam, an ardent supporter of Donald Trump, said the conservative Sinclair Broadcast Group made him the target of a conspiracy theory claiming without evidence that he was actually a law enforcement informant.

The Sinclair produced program Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson suggested that allegation caused him to be separated from other arrested Jan. 6 rioters and placed in solitary confinement for his own protection.