Colorado man sentenced to 30 months for involvement in Jan. 6 insurrection

WASHINGTON, D.C. (KKCO) - A Peyton, Colorado man was sentenced Friday to 30 months in prison after his involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection. Thomas Patrick Hamner, a 49-year-old man, was significantly involved in the efforts to violently breach the Capitol, according to court documents.

According to the sentencing memorandum, Hamner had a significant role in the loss of police control in the area surrounding the Capitol building and was one of the first rioters to breach the perimeter fencing around the Capitol building.

As rioters broke through the police line at Peace Circle, Hamner vaulted over the barricades to the south and began tearing them down, “allowing unfettered access to the Capitol grounds for thousands of rioters behind him,” say court documents.

After meeting resistance from Capitol police at the West Plaza, Hamner and other rioters began pulling on a barricade the police had constructed, with Hamner himself described in court documents as engaging in a “tug-of-war” with a Capitol and Metropolitan police officer over a bike rack that was being used as a barricade.

Hamner engaging in a "tug-of-war" with police, as described in court documents.(United States Department of Justice)

Then, rioters brought in a large metal billboard and thrust it against the line of police, using the sign as a battering ram.

“Hamner directly contributed to the violence unleashed on January 6, 2021 by, inter alia, hurling, along with other rioters, a large, heavy, steel-framed billboard, approximately ten feet high by ten feet long, against a line of police officers who were defending the Capitol on January,” state sentencing documents.

Court documents also describe how one officer, who was not wearing a helmet, was nearly struck in the skull by the sign.

Hamner with the billboard used to break through police lines.(United States Department of Justice)

Hamner was arrested on Nov. 9, 2021, in Colorado Springs. He was indicted on six charges, five of which were felonies. He pleaded guilty on May 17, 2022, to one felony charge of interfering with police during a riot, and pleaded not guilty to the remaining five charges.

Documents state that after his prison term is served, Hamner will be allowed three years of supervised release. He was also mandated to pay $2,000 in restitution.