A Texas woman who wore a Donald Trump 2020 flag “like a superhero cape” in the Capitol on Jan. 6 was sentenced to 90 days of home detention—a harsher sentence than that given to two younger siblings—because a federal judge said she should have “exercised much better judgment.”
Judge Beryl Howell also sentenced the two parents of the Munn family—Thomas Munn, 55, of Borger, Texas; and his wife, Dawn Munn, 57—to 14 days in jail each, plus 90 days of home detention. She faulted the parents for being a bad example for their children on Jan. 6.
The family sentencing came during a nearly four-hour hearing on Oct. 12. The case involves a family that entered the Capitol through a broken window at 2:25 p.m. on Jan. 6 and spent 52 minutes inside, walking around and trying to find a way out of the building.
Trump Flag Cited
In sentencing Kristi Munn, 30, Howell said she weighed the wearing of the Trump flag as an aggravating factor compared to the actions of Munn’s two younger siblings. She sentenced Kristi Munn to 36 months of probation—including 90 days of home confinement—60 hours of community service and $500 in restitution.“Kristi was the only member of the family seen to be carrying a sign through the Capitol, a sign in the form of a full-size Trump sign, 2020 flag that she tied around her like a superhero cape,” said Howell, appointed to the bench in 2010 by President Barack Obama.
“As a 30-year-old adult, a parent of three children herself and three stepchildren, she has the life experience and independence from her parents to have exercised much better judgment than being under the thumb of her parents’ influence on that day,” the judge said.
“So that weighs in favor of a more serious sentence than will be imposed on her two younger siblings.”
Howell then sentenced Joshua Munn, 25, and Kayli Munn, 20, to 36 months of probation, 60 hours of community service, and $500 restitution.
The judge saved her harshest words for parents Thomas and Dawn Munn. Each will serve 14 days of intermittent jail confinement and 90 days of home detention as part of their 36 months of probation, Howell said.
When told by defense attorney John Phillip Calhoun that Thomas Munn had home-schooled his children, Howell said that “gives me some concern.”
A ‘Forced March?’
Noting that Joshua Munn suffers from a medical condition that at one time paralyzed him, the judge asked how a mother could “put that son on a forced march” from the Ellipse to the Capitol.“What kind of mother is she?”
Defense attorney H. Heather Shaner said members of the family have the right to their own strongly held political ideas.
Howell said those political ideas would play a part in sentencing.
“But when those political ideas prompted what we saw on Jan. 6, I am obligated to take into account what the political views are that prompted them once before to engage in a world-wide spectacle of disruption of our great democracy, to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” Howell said.
All of the Munns told Howell they regret going into the Capitol.
“I set a terrible example, not just for my kids, but for everybody,” Thomas Munn said.
Noting Thomas Munn’s National Guard service, Judge Howell said “he should have known better before leading his children into this chaotic situation.”
Dawn Munn apologized for going in the Capitol and taking her children along, but she said the questions that brought them all to Washington that day still trouble her.
“If we don’t have a secure election,” she said, “we don’t have a country.”
