An Independence man sentenced Friday for breaching the Capitol on Jan. 6 blamed Trump, right-wing media and other elected officials — including Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley — for spreading the “Big Lie” that led to his actions.

In a court document filed prior to the sentencing, defense attorney Ronna Holloman-Hughes said Devin Kiel Rossman was duped by Trump and others into believing that Democrats rigged the 2020 presidential election.

“Before January 6, 2021, Mr. Rossman held a good faith belief the 2000 presidential election was in the process of being stolen by Joe Biden Democrat operatives,” Holloman-Hughes wrote in Rossman’s sentencing memorandum. “Then President Trump trumpeted this claim to the nation repeatedly and loudly from the time of the 2020 election to January 6, 2021, and continues to press that claim today.”

Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell sentenced Rossman to 36 months’ probation with a condition of intermittent incarceration and a $2,000 fine. He also must pay $500 restitution for damage to the Capitol building and costs borne by the U.S. Capitol Police, which prosecutors say totaled nearly $2.9 million.

Rossman, 38, pleaded guilty in September to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, a misdemeanor. He faced a maximum penalty of six months’ imprisonment, a $5,000 fine and five years’ probation.

‘Susceptibility to delusional thinking’

The sentencing hearing was held by video conference in U.S. District Court for the District...

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