WASHINGTON — A federal judge Monday found Georgia attorney William McCall Calhoun, Jr., guilty of a felony obstruction charge and four misdemeanors related to his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.
Prosecutors charged Calhoun with obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony carrying up to 20 years in prison. But U.S. District Court Judge Dabney L. Friedrich on Monday said despite the felony conviction, she plans to diverge from federal sentencing guidelines and sentence Calhoun more in line with similar Jan. 6 defendants who had been charged with misdemeanors.
She said federal prosecutors proved the felony obstruction charge against Calhoun, but she wanted to maintain sentencing consistency with other defendants. She questioned why other defendants who conducted them similarly to Calhoun on Jan. 6 hadn’t been charged with more serious charges.
