An admitted Jan. 6 participant ran and lost his mayoral race in Connecticut last year. Now he's headed to jail.
Former Republican mayoral candidate Gino DiGiovanni Jr. was sentenced to 10 days in confinement and one year probation after pleading guilty last year to entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, a misdemeanor.
When photos pinpointed DiGiovanni Jr.'s presence at the attack on the Capitol back on Jan. 6, 2021, he owned up to it.
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“I was there, I went inside there, and, you know, I didn’t damage or break anything," according to an interview with NBC Connecticut. "Obviously you got the pictures to prove it.”
He noted he merely walked in and wasn't violent.
“No, no, I didn't see any violence…Like I said to you, when I got there, there was Capitol Police at the door. And the doors were open. I walked in,” he said.
“I wouldn’t want to be arrested for it,” DiGiovanni added at the time. “I guess hindsight is 20/20.”
DiGiovanni Jr. was a Derby town alderman when he embarked on a run for mayor against Democrat Joseph DiMartino.
DiMartino would claim victory securing 44% or 1,263 votes.
In his charging document reviewed by Raw Story, DiGiovanni was identified for his likeness but also for sporting a jacket bearing the name of his construction business: “DiGiovanni and Sons Construction."
He freely admitted when questioned officially that he ventured to Washington D.C. alone on Jan. 6th, 2021, with the "intent of seeing President Trump’s last speech while in office."
He reached a plea agreement last year and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in January.
Federal prosecutors sought 30 days in jail, noting that DiGiovanni wasn't showing any contrition.
"When DiGiovanni was confronted with pictures of himself inside the Capitol by a member of the press in 2022, DiGiovanni acknowledged his presence in the Capitol on January 6 but did not express remorse for his part in the riot at the Capitol, even as a sitting elected official at the time of the interview," prosecutors wrote.
But his attorney disputed that in papers filed on his behalf; suggesting he has "faced and continues to face ridicule, as well as many other repercussions from that one bad deed including an unsuccessful run for derby mayor.”
