January 6 rioter Emily Hernandez sentenced to 10 years for fatal DUI crash

Hernandez, pardoned by Trump, pleaded guilty to DUI and gained attention for January 6 riot.

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A Missouri woman who participated in the January 6 Capitol riot and was later pardoned by former President Donald Trump has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for causing a deadly drunk driving crash while driving on the wrong side of the highway.

Emily Hernandez, 25, who made headlines for stealing a fragment of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s nameplate during the Capitol attack, received the sentence from Franklin County Judge Ryan Helfrich on Wednesday.

Hernandez was convicted in connection with the death of 32-year-old Victoria Wilson on January 5, 2022.

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According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and local NBC affiliate KSDK, Hernandez was also sentenced to an additional seven years for injuring Wilson’s husband, Ryan E. Wilson, who was in the car at the time of the crash. Both sentences will be served concurrently.

Ryan Wilson, who still requires a cane due to the injuries he sustained, spoke emotionally in court about the moment of the crash.

“No matter how loud I cried out to her, I couldn’t wake her,” he said, recalling the tragic loss of his wife. “I couldn’t reach her because of the air bags.”

The crash occurred just after 7 p.m. when Hernandez, who was driving on the wrong side of the highway, collided head-on with Wilson’s vehicle in the eastbound lane of I-44. Court documents revealed that her blood-alcohol content was .20%, more than twice the legal limit.

During sentencing, Hernandez tearfully addressed the court, expressing remorse for her actions.

“What I did was ungodly, and I will live with that shame for the rest of my life,” she said. “I am sorry for what I did, and if I could take it all back, I would.”

Victoria Wilson’s mother, Tonie Donaldson, spoke outside the courtroom, stating that while justice was served, the loss of her daughter remains unbearable.

“Nothing will bring her back,” Donaldson said. “It was some relief to be able to turn and look her in her eyes and tell her how much harm she had really done to us… That’s a choice she made, she has to live with it.”

Hernandez had previously pleaded guilty to the drunk driving incident but had gained national attention for her involvement in the January 6 Capitol riot. She was among several rioters pardoned by Trump on his first day in office.

She originally faced multiple charges for her role in the attack, including disorderly conduct, disrupting official proceedings, and theft of US property. However, in January 2022, she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of unlawfully entering and remaining in a restricted building.

Images from the riot showed Hernandez grinning while holding a fragment of a sign that appeared to belong to Speaker Pelosi’s office. She was sentenced to 30 days in jail for her role in the attack.

The fatal DUI crash that killed Victoria Wilson occurred just six days before Hernandez was scheduled to enter her guilty plea for the Jan. 6 charges.

Hernandez’s sentencing marks a dramatic downfall from her brief moment in the national spotlight, as she now faces a decade behind bars for her reckless actions.