Ex-Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate gets two months in prison over Jan. 6 riot

Ryan Kelley, who ran for governor of Michigan last year, was sentenced on Tuesday to 60 days in prison after pleading guilty this summer to one charge related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

The judge lectured Kelley at a hearing before handing down the sentence, saying, according to the Associated Press, that Kelley used his elevated profile amid his gubernatorial campaign to spread inaccurate information about the riot, including that it was an FBI “setup.”

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“A lot of folks voted for you. A lot of folks followed you,” U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said during the hearing.

Kelley ran in a packed Republican primary in the Michigan battleground last year and came in fourth, receiving 15%, or about 165,000 votes. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) went on to defeat GOP nominee Tudor Dixon to win a second term.

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The results came after prosecutors for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia charged Kelley amid his campaign in June 2022 with four criminal counts over allegations he breached a restricted area around the Capitol, stayed there for nearly two hours, ripped a portion of scaffolding covering, encouraged rioters to move closer to the Capitol, and failed to express remorse for his actions.

The Michigan Republican eventually pleaded down to one misdemeanor count of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds.

Prosecutors sought three months for the charge, as well as probation and a $500 fine, according to their sentencing memorandum.

Kelley’s defense team, in its own memorandum, asked only for probation, emphasizing that Kelley, 42, was married with six children and had no criminal past.

“Mr. Kelley has accepted responsibility not only with the Court, but has also taken it upon himself to explain his wrongdoings and the potential consequences to his family,” his lawyers wrote. “Mr. Kelley understands and appreciates that he never should have participated in the protests that turned into a riot that day and that such violence has no place in our democracy.”

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They noted that Kelley’s actions at the riot were nonviolent and that his therefore “limited role” that day warranted probation without incarceration.

Kelley is one of more than 1,100 defendants who have been charged in connection with Jan. 6 and one of more than 600 who have received sentences in their cases, according to Department of Justice data.