Attorney: Judge made error in sentencing woman who took her 14-year-old son into U.S. Capitol on 1/6

Attorney: Judge made error in sentencing Pilot Mountain woman who took her 14-year-old son into U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.


Pilot Mountain woman who took her 14-year-old son into the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, is challenging the sentence she received last week — three-months in federal prison followed by three years of probation.

Virginia Marie Spencer, 38, pleaded guilty on Sept. 9, 2021, to a misdemeanor charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a federal building.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced Spencer after a hearing on Jan. 7.

Allen H. Orenberg, Spencer’s attorney, filed a motion Tuesday, asking Kollar-Kotelly to enter an order correcting her sentence. He also asks the judge to delay the sentence until the alleged mistake is corrected.

In court papers, Orenberg said Kollar-Kotelly was wrong to impose both an active prison sentence and a probationary sentence. Because Spencer pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for what Orenberg says is legally a petty offense, Kollar-Kotelly was not authorized to sentence Spencer to a three-months in federal prison followed by probation.

Read more: https://journalnow.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/attorney-judge-made-error-in-sentencing-pilot-mountain-woman-who-took-her-14-year-old/article_76d3f778-73d4-11ec-971a-7b56d7c3e4ba.html
(Winston-Salem Journal)

Mrs. Spencer shouldn't press her luck. If I were the judge I would sentence her to 3+ years of prison upon reconsideration.