(BrightPress.org) – A marine who entered the Capitol on January 6th, 2021 was sentenced on Monday, September 11th to four years of probation and 279 hours doing community service. Dodge Hellonen and two of his friends, also active-duty marines who worked together, went to D.C. that day from their post in Virginia and ended up in the crowd of people that ultimately stormed the Capitol.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said she couldn’t “fathom why” Hellonen entered the Capitol that day, she apparently believes the 2020 election was a free and fair contest. Reyes urged Hellonen to ponder his choices and reflect so that a repeat of the behavior wasn’t forthcoming in the future.
Prosecutors went relatively easy on Hellonen, seeking short terms of incarceration, only a few weeks for charges of demonstrating in a Capitol building, a misdemeanor equivalent to trespassing. Reyes noted that his military service did not weigh in favor of leniency, but rather his attitude since being charged and his behavior after being demoted in the Marine Corps did carry “a great deal of weight” in her decision to grant him probation and community service.
Reyes was reassigned from signals analysis to warehouse work inventorying gear. She said that he gave himself a second chance by throwing himself into the work with a good attitude. Hellonen took “full responsibility” and said that he would remember the experience as long as he lived.
The other two Marines will be sentenced later in the week, all three pleaded guilty earlier in the year to the parading charge, which is what many J6 defendants have been charged with. Hellonen carried a Gasden flag with him upon entry, the yellow flag bears a coiled snake and the phrase “Don’t Tread on Me.” While the symbol has historical roots in revolutionary America, Democrats have taken to claiming it’s a symbol of white supremacy in recent years.
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