Chutkan has often delivered tough sentences to Jan. 6 defendants, but she found that prosecutors had failed to account for Foy’s remorse and actions over the last two years. Foy has already spent five months in prison for his Jan. 6 actions; a magistrate judge ordered him incarcerated shortly after his January 2021 arrest, agreeing that he presented a danger if allowed to remain free before trial. But Chutkan freed him shortly after the case was sent to her court, a decision she acknowledged Wednesday she had made “reluctantly.”

Since then, Chutkan said, Foy has worked a steady job, gotten therapy and ended what he called “toxic” relationships that led him to join the violence at the Capitol three years ago.

The Obama-appointed judge has gained national attention for her role presiding over the criminal proceedings of former president Donald Trump on charges related to his effort to subvert the 2020 election. Special counsel Jack Smith has accused Trump of fomenting — and then seeking to capitalize on — the violence that day to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory.

Foy was at the center of some of the most violent episodes that occurred on Jan. 6, joining a crowd at the mouth of the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace tunnel and slashing violently toward police with a hockey stick. He also threw a metal pole toward officers. Foy ultimately admitted to his conduct last year.

Prosecutors said his conduct merited the 97 months they recommended — the top of what the sentencing guidelines called for in his case. They said his conduct on Jan. 6 was so egregious that it overrode any of the mitigating factors Chutkan cited. But Chutkan noted that many other violent Jan. 6 defendants — some with extensive criminal histories — had received significantly less time.

Chutkan acknowledged that the day seemed to be an aberration for Foy, who has no other criminal history. She said that his military service “cuts both ways” because he knew the significance of his oath to the country.

“What you were doing on Jan. 6 was not serving your country,” Chutkan said.

The judge added that Foy’s story was a familiar one among Jan. 6 defendants: people, particularly in the time of strict Covid lockdowns, who found “community, connection and a purpose” in protesting the 2020 election results.

“People in groups act in ways that they would never act alone,” Chutkan said.

Foy chimed in, agreeing with the judge’s characterization. Chutkan replied, “But that is what you are capable of. There have to be consequences.”

Foy’s attorneys described a troubled man, discharged honorably from the military but suffering PTSD from his experience, which included multiple assaults during a hazing ritual, only to return home at the cusp of the Covid pandemic. Isolated and living with his parents — ardent Trump supporters who pushed the false notion that the 2020 election was stolen — Foy began to embrace the claims as well.

Elizabeth Mullin, one of the federal public defenders representing Foy, repeatedly described the “propaganda” and “lies” pushed by Trump and other leaders that many Jan. 6 defendants say they were influenced by. Chutkan, with an implicit nod to the sensitivity of her position, responded, “I’m not going to get into that.”

The defense attorneys described Foy’s decision to travel to Washington — grabbing his hockey stick on the way out the door — as a spontaneous decision that came at a moment when he was taking ineffective medication to address his psychological trauma. The hockey stick, they said, was meant to be a flagpole, not a weapon.

Chutkan expressed skepticism about that claim.

“This isn’t a hockey town,” she said wryly.