Bridgeville man who participated in Capitol riot gets 2 months behind bars

A Bridgeville man who pleaded guilty to civil disorder for his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot will serve two months of incarceration.

Kenneth Grayson, 51, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan in Washington, D.C. In addition to time in prison, Grayson must serve two years of supervised release and pay $2,000 restitution.

“Yes, you didn’t put your hands on a police officer,” the judge told Grayson in handing down her sentence. “That doesn’t mean those officers weren’t terrified for their lives.

“There’s no mob without numbers. You were part of a mob. You should not have been there.”

Grayson previously had been charged with five counts, including violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. He pleaded guilty to a single felony count Sept. 20.

Grayson had remained on restrictive, electronic monitoring for 22 months — since his arrest Jan. 26, 2021. Following his sentencing Monday, Chutkan said Grayson, whose father died Friday, could self-report to serve his sentence. She also lessened his release conditions so he could assist his mother.

Investigators said Grayson rented a van, reserved a hotel suite and traveled to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5 with plans to attend former President Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally the next morning. After the rally, they said, Grayson walked from the Washington Monument to the Capitol and followed the crowd that was breaking in.

He entered the building through the Senate Wing Doors seven minutes after the initial breach and then used his cellphone to livestream from the Crypt and the Rotunda, investigators said.

The government said he twice tried to push past a line of officers, although the defense disputed that allegation.

Grayson remained inside the Capitol for 47 minutes.

In its sentencing memo, the U.S. Attorney’s Office asked Chutkan to order Grayson to serve three months of incarceration, citing not only his actions that day but his rhetoric in the days leading up to and after the attack.

On Dec. 23, 2020, the government wrote, Grayson told a person on Facebook, “’Come to DC with me and (redacted) be part of history .. it’s the first time a potus has called directly to all Patriots to be there. I’d walk there if I had to bro[.]’”

After his arrest, during an interview with investigators, Grayson told them “he was there because he felt like the election was stolen, and he wanted to show support.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Fedor said Grayson told investigators that, if there had been a sufficient barrier around the Capitol or signs warning him to stay out, he would have heeded them.

“One would think flashbangs, tear gas and riot officers should have been a sufficient deterrent,” the government wrote.

During Monday’s hearing, defense attorney Edward Smock emphasized his client did not engage in violence or any property destruction.

Chutkan said that did not take away Grayson’s culpability.

“I don’t believe your intention was simply to attend the rally and go home,” she said. “What I’m not hearing is remorse for what your presence did.”

Chutkan referenced the mob walking through the Capitol building “looking for an 82-year-old grandmother (and calling out) ‘Nancy’” as they searched for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“D.C.’s not a swamp. It’s a place patriots come to serve their country,” Chutkan told Grayson. “They had to hide under their desks, calling their families to say goodbye, calling their children to tell them they loved them.”

The defense said Grayson was never involved in any extremist group advocating hate or violence and only went to Washington that day because Trump encouraged the public to do so.

Grayson submitted a letter of apology to the court and spoke during his sentencing.

“I want you to know how much I wish I could go back to that day and make different decisions,” Grayson wrote. “Entering the Capitol was an egregious error that I will spend years regretting and want to say to you that I am truly sorry and do apologize.”

Grayson, who most recently worked in the oil and gas well industry, previously owned a commercial cleaning company for 12 years, worked in real estate and served as a private investigator for a law office, according to court filings. He also worked as a counselor for a juvenile detention facility in Baldwin for 3-1/2 years.

He told the court his father was a police officer and that he would never purposefully disrespect law enforcement.

The defense also noted Grayson is close with his daughter and helps care for his parents.

Seventeen family members, friends and former employers submitted letters to the court on his behalf, praising Grayson as a good man who loved his daughter and parents.

His father submitted a letter before he died.

“I raised my son to be a good man. He was raised to have absolute respect for the law and would have never ordinarily engaged in any type of behavior like that day,” Kenneth Grayson Sr. wrote. “He didn’t engage in any destruction or violence. He simply walked around. He now understands the magnitude of the behavior of the collective thousands that day and is repentant.”

Quoting attorney Bryan Stephenson, the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, Chutkan told Grayson, “We are not the worst thing we’ve ever done. You’ve lived a good life. You did a bad thing, a stupid thing.

“I hope you’ve learned something from this.”