By Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON (Reuters] – On Thursday, a judge in Dallas imposed a sentence that was longer than the prosecutors asked for on a Dallas man who posted inflammatory messages on social media inciting people at violence at the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6. Even though he didn’t directly participate in the rioting.

U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan sent Troy Smocks (58) to 14-months incarceration with three years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty to making threats in interstate communications.

Smocks (Black) told the judge the Justice Department treated him differently to white defendants who took part in the riot. This was after a speech of then-President Donald Trump at a nearby rally, where he falsely claimed that his loss to Democrat Joe Biden had been the result widespread fraud.

In court papers, the prosecution stated that Smocks had traveled to Washington Jan. 5, using the accounts “ColonelTPerez”, and “@Colonel007,” on Parler’s social media network. They made threats about the riots on Jan. 6, and 7.

According to the Justice Department, Smocks threatened that others would come back to Washington the day prior Biden’s scheduled induction. He claimed that they would bring weapons and ammunition and that others would hunt them down, “RINOS and Dems” and Tech Execs. RINO stands for “Republicans In Name Only” and is a pejorative term.

Smocks was taken into pre-trial custody since January’s arrest. Both the federal prosecutor Michael Friedman, and John Machado, his defense attorney told him that he should now be freed from prison and placed on supervised release.

Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia stated that Smocks claimed to be a U.S. soldier, however, there was no evidence to support this claim. Smocks also indicated that he had a lengthy criminal record and an apparent inability to “live a law-abiding life.”

Chutkan claimed that he did not show any genuine regret for his actions.