Jan. 6 rioter pardoned by Trump has been sentenced to 10 years in deadly DWI crash
A Missouri woman convicted in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and recently pardoned by President Donald Trump was sentenced to 10 years this week for killing a mother of two in a drunken-driving crash.
Emily Hernandez was seen holding the broken nameplate of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after the mob of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol in 2021. She served 30 days in federal prison and was released.
On Wednesday, she was sentenced in Missouri state court to 10 years in prison for a 2022 drunken-driving crash that killed Victoria Wilson and seriously injured her husband, Ryan Wilson, court records show.
“Nothing will ever bring her back,” Victoria Wilson’s mother, Tonie Donaldson, told reporters outside court. “We have an empty hole in my heart that will always be there.”
Hernandez, 24, pleaded guilty on Nov. 5 to one count driving while intoxicated in which a person died and another DWI count in which a person was seriously injured.
Hernandez was driving the wrong way on a Missouri interstate on Jan. 5, 2022, when she crashed into a car with Victoria and Ryan Wilson, a couple out celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary, NBC affiliate KDSK of St. Louis reported.
Victoria Wilson, 32, died of her injuries. Ryan Wilson was hurt and suffered a disabling injury to his right foot, court documents say.
Hernandez’ blood-alcohol content was recorded at .125, records show.
Hernandez’ defense attorneys argued in a sentencing memorandum for a sentence of 120 days, or around four months, saying she acknowledged that she killed someone and is ashamed of her actions.
“Emily’s emotional make-up will forever contain feelings of remorse, grief, sadness and shame,” her attorneys wrote.
A voice mail left at the Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office seeking comment Thursday night was not immediately returned.
Trump on Jan. 20, the first day of his second presidential term, issued pardons or commutations for everyone convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, in which police officers were beaten by a mob and the building ransacked.
Hernandez was not accused of violence against any officers on Jan. 6. She pleaded guilty to a federal count of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, a misdemeanor, in January 2022, and was sentenced to 30 days and one year of supervised release.
Nearly all of the estimated 1,500 people received unconditional pardons, but 14 people convicted had their sentences commuted, including Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right group Oath Keepers.
