Sentencing memo for man convicted in Jan. 6 riot warns of 'risk of another attack'

CHICAGO -- There is a dire warning from federal prosecutors in the case of an Illinois man convicted of violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

There is "risk of another attack," which is a direct quote and an unwavering warning from the sentencing recommendation for Thomas B. Adams Jr., whose sentencing this week was moved until right after the November presidential election.

Prosecutors said Adams and other violent capitol rioters need to be held up as examples to prevent a renewed assault on D.C.

When the breach and insurrection began on Jan. 6 nearly four years ago, Adams was among those who walked through a crashed Capitol fire door.

As the ABC7 Chicago I-Team reported early this year, the Springfield man was sentenced to 14 months but was released from a federal prison in Arkansas after serving just five months pending his appeal.

Adams was one of several hundred Jan. 6 defendants who had been originally charged with obstruction, only to have the use of that federal statute struck down by the Supreme Court for use in Jan. 6 cases. He was to be resentenced this week, but it has now been pushed until Nov. 7, which is two days after the presidential election.

The I-Team obtained the sentencing request filed by U.S. prosecutors. The government memo asks that Adams be sent back to prison beyond what the guidelines allow, 12 months behind bars and another twelve on supervised release, for what authorities call "a violent attack that forced an interruption of the certification of the 2020 Electoral College vote count, (and) threatened the peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 Presidential election."

Prosecutors want to hold up Adams' sentence to send a wider message.

"The need for January 6 sentences to promote respect for the law and deter future crime," prosecutors said.

Citing that "the risk of another attack on the Capitol remains... The heated and inflammatory rhetoric that brought (Adams) to the District has not subsided," they said. "The lie that the election was stolen and illegitimate is still being perpetrated."

Although sentencing memos are typically written for a judge about a single defendant, federal prosecutors in the Adams case seem to be writing for a larger audience by saying that Jan. 6 rioters didn't just break the law, they rejected the law.

In unusually spirited language, prosecutors note that it's not enough for Jan. 6 defendants to simply admit to trespassing. That generic crime, they suggest, doesn't show the damage done to the country.