A Navy sailor who was convicted on a charge stemming from his participation in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, has managed to avoid jail time or probation after a judge sentenced him to 30 days of home detention and a $2,500 fine.
Petty Officer 1st Class David Elizalde argued in a sentencing memo that a probation sentence would have been “fatal” to his Navy career, which he wanted to salvage despite being convicted of one charge of violent entry and disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds when a violent mob stormed the building hoping to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Stephen Brennwald, Elizalde's lawyer, told Military.com that they “knew that having a sailor on probation wouldn't really work if he was given orders to go back out to sea, or was shipped out, so the judge adopted our recommendation so that his sentence would be over quickly with no probationary term.”
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Brennwald added that they were “thrilled that the judge agreed with our recommendation.” Prosecutors had asked for 30 days in jail and probation of three years. The maximum sentence Elizalde faced was six months in prison and a fine of $5,000.
Elizalde captured video of a police officer being assaulted and also briefly entered the Capitol on Jan. 6 as hundreds of rioters broke through police lines, smashed windows and vandalized congressional offices…
