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WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Davis County woman is the first Utahn charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot who will spend time in prison, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Janet Buhler, 58, of Kaysville, was sentenced Wednesday to a term of 30 days in prison after she pleaded guilty in January to one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing inside a capitol building.
Buhler, who was not in police custody going into the hearing, was ordered to report to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to begin her term sometime after Aug. 8. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said Buhler could potentially serve her sentence at a local jail, though that agreement would have to be worked out with the Bureau of Prisons.
Buhler was charged in July with five misdemeanors in connection with the riot. Court records indicate she traveled to Washington on Jan. 5, 2021, with her stepson-in-law, Michael Hardin, a former Salt Lake City police officer. The two made their way into the Capitol and reached the Senate Gallery before leaving.
Hava Mirell, a federal prosecutor, described how Buhler and Hardin walked into the Capitol through the shattered glass doors among rioters who were loudly chanting at police. Mirell said the two would have had to walk past obvious signs of forced entry and "obvious threats" to anyone standing in the mob's way.
The prosecutor said that not only did the two go inside the building, but both made their way through the Capitol — which Mirell described as a "maze" — to get to the Senate Gallery.
Mirell noted that Buhler was cooperative with investigators and willingly turned herself in to authorities. The prosecutor asked the judge to sentence Buhler to 30 days of incarceration and three years of probation.
Brett Tolman, Buhler's defense attorney and a former Utah U.S. Attorney, described his client as someone unlike any other client he's represented. He argued that Buhler should receive a sentence similar to Hardin, who in April was ordered to serve 18 months of probation.
Tolman noted that Hardin had been less cooperative with police, as authorities had to execute a search warrant to bring him into custody. Tolman said that Buhler was hoping to avoid a prison sentence for two reasons: so she could tend to a charitable foundation benefiting unhoused people, and so she could continue to teach piano and violin lessons to her students.
Buhler also addressed the court during the Wednesday hearing, telling the judge she was caught up in politics that day and she should've never made the trip to Washington in the first place. She said her decisions on Jan. 6 have become a defining moment in her life, and she wished she could go back in time and make different choices.
"This was one of the worst decisions I've ever made in my life," Buhler said. "I've let so many people down."
Buhler told the court she was fired from a job as a professor teaching fashion design at a Utah college, alleging the college told her they didn't want to employ someone with such low character. A 2017 article from the Globe, the student newspaper at Salt Lake Community College, described Buhler as an instructor in the college's fashion design program.
Buhler also said Wednesday she was later fired from another job and some of her music students left her after hearing of her actions on Jan. 6.
Before handing down the sentence, Kollar-Kotelly described Buhler's and Hardin's actions inside the building prior to their exit, saying that Buhler clapped and cheered after seeing rioters breach a door that was being defended by police.
The judge said that Buhler participated in an insurrection with the goal of stopping the 2020 election from being certified, something she described as the "bedrock of our democracy." Kollar-Kotelly said that Buhler's statement made her optimistic that Buhler was aware of the gravity of her actions.
She then ordered that Buhler spend time behind bars, saying she hoped the sentence would send a message for Buhler not to engage in this sort of conduct in the future. In addition to the prison time, Buhler will also be placed on probation for three years and ordered to pay a fine.
Buhler is one of nine Utahns to be charged in connection with the attack. Five have pleaded guilty in their cases, and Buhler is the fourth to be sentenced. The three others who have been sentenced received probation terms.
In all, over 800 people have been charged in connection with the 2021 attack, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.
Correction: In an earlier version, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly's last name was misspelled as Dollar-Kotelly.
