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Prison sentence reduced for former Rocky Mount police officer in Jan. 6 case (2024)

Related Topics: Christopher Cooper

WASHINGTON — Nearly four years after a mob attacked the U.S. Capitol, one of its members – a former Rocky Mount police sergeant – returned to a nearby courthouse Wednesday to face the same judge who sentenced him in 2022 to seven years and three months in prison.

At a resentencing hearing ordered by an appellate court, Thomas “T.J.” Robertson’s punishment was reduced to six years.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said that while he believed his original sentence was appropriate, he cited a lower range of punishment recommended by newly calculated sentencing guidelines, shaped by the higher courts, as the reason for reducing the sentence.