Joshua Doolin, a Polk City man sentenced to prison for his role in the U.S. Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, was released last week after a judge granted his motion for a sentencing reduction.
Doolin, 26, was convicted in March 2023 during a bench trial overseen by U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols of the District of Columbia. Nichols found Doolin guilty of one felony count, civil disorder, and three misdemeanors for his presence at the U.S. Capitol during the rioting.
In August 2023, Nichols sentenced Doolin to 18 months in federal prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release.
In March, Federal Public Defender A.J. Kramer filed a motion requesting that Doolin’s sentence be reduced from 18 months to 12 months and one day, based on a revision of federal sentencing guidelines that took effect in November. In the 22-page motion, Kramer argued that the amended guidelines should be applied retroactively to benefit Doolin.
Kramer cited a change to federal sentencing guidelines for “zero-point offenders,” or those with no criminal history and whose crimes do not involve violence. The new guidelines provide for a two-level decrease in a defendant’s offense level, which helps determine a sentence.
To qualify, a defendant must meet a list of 10 criteria, such as that the offense did not involve violence or credible threats of violence, did not result in death or serious injury and was not a sex offense. Kramer argued that Doolin’s actions were not violent, emphasizing that he did not punch or throw objects at officers outside the Capitol.
Prosecutors offered photographic evidence that Doolin joined a group of rioters who pushed against a line of police officers near a tunnel leading into the Capitol building.
Nichols granted Doolin’s motion for a sentencing reduction in June. The judge wrote that if he had been presented with the scheduling range under the revised guidelines, he would have sentenced Doolin to 15 months.
Doolin entered federal custody in October and was initially held at Federal Correctional Institution Coleman, a low-security facility in Sumter County. That means that he served less than the 15 months of Nichols’ amended sentence.
The Ledger was unable to gain an explanation from the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Prisons or U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services on why Doolin was released after slightly more than 10 months in prison.
Doolin traveled to Washington, D.C., with relatives and friends to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally, at which former President Donald Trump spoke at the Capitol Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021. The group walked to the U.S. Capitol to protest and then joined a mob of Trump supporters who pressed toward the building.
Some rioters broke into the building, disrupting a joint meeting of Congress to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. Doolin was not accused of entering the Capitol.
Before Nichols issued his sentence, prosecutors recommended a prison sentence of 30 months for Doolin. Nichols wrote that two factors merited a shift toward the low end of the sentencing guidelines. The evidence of obstructive conduct, which yielded a two-level enhancement, was not overwhelming, as it had been in other cases, Nichols wrote.
The judge also wrote that Doolin had a “particularly strong argument about the current circumstances that he and his family are in.”
Doolin is one of seven current or former Polk County residents either accused or convicted of crimes connected to the insurrection of Jan. 6. Three of his original co-defendants, Jonathan Pollock, Olivia Pollock and Joseph Hutchinson III, are scheduled for trial in October. All three became fugitives before being captured in January in Lake County.
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.
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