REGION — A San Diego man who entered the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and was interviewed on CNN about the storming of the building was sentenced this week to three years of probation.
According to court documents, Josiah Hueso flew to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 5, 2021, to attend a “Stop the Steal” rally and marched with others to the Capitol the next day. Prosecutors say he entered the building through a fire door and went into the office of the Senate Parliamentarian.
Court documents state that after leaving the Capitol, Hueso spoke with a CNN reporter in a televised interview and said, “a huge group of us stormed inside and as we started — we were basically shouting at the cops. And there were people arguing with them, trying to get them on our side, basically.”
Federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C. charged him last year and he was arrested in May 2022 in San Diego. Hueso pleaded guilty earlier this year to a misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a capitol building.
A prosecution sentencing memorandum indicates the government was seeking 21 days in custody for Hueso.
The document cites social media activity from Hueso that allegedly indicated he was aware the conduct was unlawful. In response to another poster who stated that those who stormed the Capitol did nothing illegal, Hueso wrote, “Walking into the Capitol was technically illegal…I agree we did nothing wrong but that doesn’t matter at this point.”
Sentencing papers from Hueso’s defense attorney state he now “fully acknowledges that he was wrong to (go) into the Capitol and he regrets doing so.” In requesting probation, the document states Hueso was in the Capitol for less than 10 minutes, has no prior criminal record, and did not engage in violence, theft or property destruction, unlike some other Jan. 6 defendants.
Others from the San Diego area who were prosecuted for taking part in the Jan. 6 breach include Carlsbad resident James McGrew, who pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers and was sentenced to six years and six months in prison; El Cajon resident Erik Herrera, who was convicted by a jury of entering the Capitol and sentenced to four years in prison; former Coronado resident Jeffrey Alexander Smith, who pleaded guilty to entering the Capitol and was sentenced to a three-month prison term for taking part in the breach; and ex-Ocean Beach resident Philip James Weisbecker, who pleaded guilty to entering the Capitol and was sentenced to 30 days in custody.
Charges were filed last month against Imperial Beach resident Joshua Kaleb Youngerman, who prosecutors allege used a rope to scale the Capitol building and gain entrance.
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