Polk County man in prison for Jan. 6 conviction seeks reduction in sentence

Joshua Doolin, a former Polk City resident now in prison for crimes committed during the U.S. Capitol attack, is seeking a reduction in his sentence that could yield his immediate release.

A lawyer representing Doolin submitted a motion Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia arguing that his sentence should be reduced from 18 months to 12 months and one day, based on a revision of federal sentencing guidelines that took effect in November.

In the 22-page motion, Federal Public Defender A.J. Kramer argued that the amended guidelines should be applied retroactively to benefit Doolin, who was convicted in March 2023 and sentenced in August. U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols found Doolin guilty in a bench trial on one felony count, civil disorder, and three misdemeanors for his presence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Nichols sentenced Doolin to 18 months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release.

Doolin, now 26, entered federal custody in October and is held at Federal Correctional Institution Coleman, a low-security facility in Sumter County. His appeal of his conviction remains active.

Doolin is scheduled for release on Nov. 12. If approved, the sentence reduction would move his release date up to June 30. That means he could be released to a transitional house earlier and perhaps immediately, Kramer wrote.

For that reason, the lawyer urged the court to rule quickly on the motion. He wrote that federal prosecutors oppose any reduction in Doolin’s sentence.

Doolin traveled to Washington, D.C., with relatives and friends to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally, at which former President Donald Trump spoke at the Capitol Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021. His group walked to the U.S. Capitol and joined in a mob of Trump supporters, some of whom broke into the building, interrupting a joint meeting of Congress to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Kramer’s motion focuses on a change to federal sentencing guidelines for “zero-point offenders,” or those with no criminal history and whose crimes do not involve violence. The new guidelines provide for a two-level decrease in a defendant’s offense level, which helps determine a sentence.

In addition to the lack of a criminal history, a defendant must meet a list of 10 criteria, among them that the offense did not involve violence or credible threats of violence, did not result in death or serious injury and was not a sex offense.

Prosecutors offered photographic evidence that Doolin joined a group of rioters who pushed against a line of police officers near a tunnel leading into the Capitol building. In the motion, Kramer argued that Doolin’s actions were not violent, noting that he did not punch or throw objects at officers.

“While he was shouting and part of the group pushing against the police line in the tunnel, the group consisted of hundreds of individuals, and Mr. Doolin was several rows from the front of the pack,” Kramer wrote. “Many individuals boarding the Metro at rush hour or attending a music concert have engaged in similar conduct; yet most would not describe their conduct as 'violent.' ”

The motion emphasized that Doolin was “a family man,” and it included a photo of him with his wife and their infant son. Kramer described Doolin as a hard worker and cited video statements of support from relatives and his employer.

Kramer wrote that Doolin has been “a model inmate,” taking education classes and working toward a GED, working as a prison orderly and avoiding disciplinary infractions.

The motion included examples of sentences given to other Jan. 6 defendants in arguing that Doolin deserved a shortened sentence.

Prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of 30 months for Doolin. In issuing the sentence, Nichols wrote that two factors warranted shifting to the low end of the guidelines. The evidence of obstructive conduct, which yielded a two-level enhancement, was not overwhelming, as it had been in other cases, Nichols wrote.

The judge also wrote that Doolin had a “particularly strong argument about the current circumstances that he and his family are in.”

Doolin’s cousins, Jonathan Pollock and his sister, Olivia Pollock, formerly of the Lakeland area, are facing trials on more serious charges, including assaulting police officers outside the Capitol, as is their friend, Joseph Hutchinson III.

Another friend, Michael Perkins of Plant City, was convicted of multiple crimes and sentenced to four years in prison.

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.