Howard Richardson

Approaching the Capitol, details are scarce but video and photos show Howard carrying a Trump flag.  Police began to assault the group he was part of and Howard used his flagpole to hit a policeman twice. It broke the second time and about then he was pepper-sprayed.  Howard turned around at that point and left, never entering the building.

Howard’s position is that he acted in self-defense.  The minute-by-minute video documentary: J6 a True Timeline supports his claim. Many J6rs have said the same but it doesn’t move the needle for them in the courtroom.

Howard was arrested in Philadelphia on November 30^th later that year, 2021.  He was arraigned a few days later and held in solitary confinement until his trial.  It was not until his trial on April 27^th, 2022, that he was let out of solitary to attend his own trial.  He was charged with; Assaulting, Resisting or Impeding Certain Officers using a Dangerous Weapon or Inflicting Bodily Injury, Civil Disorder, 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, Engaging in Physical Violence in a Restricted Building or Grounds, Act of Physical Violence in the Capitol Grounds or Buildings, Act of Physical Violence in the Capitol Grounds or Buildings and Demonstrating or Picketing in a Capitol Building.  Note the last charge… Howard never entered the any buildings. 

This practice of “stacking” charges is a DOJ tactic to maximize prison sentences. Unfortunately for Howard at trial, he was assigned the infamous Clinton appointee D.C. District Judge, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who’d so far imposed very harsh sentences on all J6 prisoners.

Howard, a Christian man, apologized to the court saying “there’s no excuse” for his behavior that day and stressed that the officer involved hadn’t been seriously hurt. “I’m a good citizen,” he told Judge Kollar-Kotelly, “I’ve been a good neighbor. … I went down to D.C. as a patriotic citizen to celebrate. I allowed myself to be dragged into this mob mentality.”  Howard mentioned that he was a Vietnam veteran but the Judge replied, that if anything, his military service should have made him even more keenly aware that his actions that day were indefensible.

Howard’s attorney, Thomas C. Egan III, portrayed him as a valued member of his community who frequently volunteered as a poll watcher and judge of elections.  In short, he’d been suspicious of ballot counting chicanery for years.  At trial Egan stressed, “He didn’t go there with the intention of hurting anybody,” Egan said. “He was an elderly man who went there as a President Trump supporter who believed – right or wrong – that the election had been taken from him.”

But Kollar-Kotelly didn’t care. On April 22^nd, he pleaded guilty, thinking it would land him a lesser sentence. But Howard was wrong. On August 26^th, she sentenced him to 46 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and $2,000 restitution. 

While he’s been jail and out of solitary, Howard started a bible study and lead several inmates to the Lord. Please continue to pray for Howard and all other Jan 6ers during these unjust times. Howard’s business has suffered greatly because he is prevented from working since his arrest and he has to pay others to replace his labor. He has emptied all his reserves and risks losing everything which will be an undo burden on his family.