WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Richmond man has been sentenced to 24 months of probation and fined $500 for his role in efforts to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 electoral vote count. 

Stephen Billingsley, 46, had pleaded guilty in August to disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, the U.S. Capitol, on Jan. 6, 2021. In exchange for his plea to the misdemeanor, prosecutors dropped a second charge of entering and remaining in a restricted building and grounds, 

Prosecutors had urged U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan to sentence Billingsley to six months in jail, pointing out he’d recorded a series of first-person videos and audio during the Capitol disturbance and posted them to Facebook, and said he “taunted, yelled at and ignored directions from police officers; encouraged and assisted other rioters in breaching the Capitol grounds, including by unhooking a metal barricade and letting himself and other rioters through; engaged in violent rhetoric; and has expressed no remorse for his actions.” 

Billingsley’s attorneys argued he’d had “strongly held beliefs … that there had been irregularities in the election” and came to Washington to “protest the results … and the lack of attention” to the alleged voting irregularities. He had “no intent to do anything but add his voice to the vocal protests over the injustice he perceived had happened in the election.” 

They’d reminded Hogan that Billingsley was not armed, committed no violent actions and never entered the Capitol.