Court reduces ex-cop's Jan. 6 sentence by more than a year

A federal judge reduced the sentence of Thomas Robertson, a former police officer who had been sentenced to 87 months in prison for his role in Jan. 6, by 15 months.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper made the decision after prosecutors dropped federal felony obstruction charges. The Supreme Court had limited the use of that charge, which was used against hundreds of people sued over the Capitol assault, in late June. Robertson was one of the first sentencing review cases from that ruling, and experts expect more to follow.

The former Virginia officer was sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison in August 2022, at the time the longest sentence imposed against any Jan. 6 defendant.

Despite dropping the charge, the prosecution sought to have the judge not reduce the sentence on the grounds that the initial sentence was an accurate reflection of the gravity of the defendant's actions. Robertson, for his part, assured that he was remorseful and that what happened that day would not happen again. His lawyer agreed that he had not acted correctly, but defended that he was not trying to "overthrow democracy," according to ABC News.

At the end of the hearing, Judge Cooper told Robertson, "I assume I won't be seeing you a third time."