Missouri trio gets jail for roles in Capitol insurrection

ST. LOUIS — A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Monday sentenced two men and a woman from Missouri to several weeks in jail for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building.

U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg sentenced Emily Hernandez of Sullivan to 30 days in jail. He also sentenced her uncle, William Merry, and another suburban St. Louis man, Paul Scott Westover, to 45 days in jail each, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

All three also were ordered to pay $500 for damaging the Capitol.

The trio entered the Capitol through a smashed door. A government sentencing memo states Merry goaded Hernandez into picking up a broken piece of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's sign. It also states Hernandez shot a video of herself stealing two other signs.

Westover pleaded guilty Dec. 6 to one count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol. Merry pleaded guilty Jan. 5 to one count of theft of government property. Hernandez pleaded guilty Jan. 10 to one count of entering and remaining in a restricted building.

In an unrelated Missouri case, Hernandez faces two driving while intoxicated charges for a fatal wrong-way crash on Interstate 44 in January.