Zachariah Boulton has a knack for trouble.
In 2005, the Villa Rica resident spent three months in jail after he set fire to a neighboring camper’s tent following a disagreement in an Alaskan campground. A year later, he was convicted of carrying a concealed pistol without a permit, earning him a year on probation and a fine.
In 2019, Boulton received a less-than-honorable discharge from the U.S. Army, where he had been a bookkeeper in the Finance and Comptroller Corps, for “extramarital conduct.”
And Tuesday, the 38-year-old truck driver was sentenced to two years on probation and $1,000 in fines and restitution for taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.
Boulton pleaded guilty in November to a misdemeanor related to entering the Capitol. According to court records, Boulton entered the Capitol through a breached door but left the building 15 minutes later. He is not accused of causing damage to the Capitol or fighting with police.
Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge John Bates to sentence Boulton to 90 days, a year of probation and 60 hours of community service, citing his apparent lack of remorse last year in comments to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“It’s just going to be a slap on the wrist,” he told the AJC. “I’m not too concerned about a misdemeanor. If it was a felony, I’d fight it to the hilt.”
Prosecutors seized on the comments, claiming Boulton does not have “actual remorse” for taking part in the riot.
“Specific deterrence is strongly needed in this case,” prosecutor Melanie Krebs-Pilotti wrote in a sentencing memo to the court. “Since Boulton has no remorse and does not think his actions on January 6 were harmful, Boulton must be prevented from participating in future violent attacks in support of his political goals.”
Credit: U.S. Department of Justice
Credit: U.S. Department of Justice
But Boulton’s attorneys said the comments to the AJC came “at an emotionally volatile time” for their client and said Boulton has had a change of heart.
“Mr. Boulton’s perspective on this prosecution has changed dramatically,” they wrote in a court filing last week. “During his interview with (the) FBI ... he acknowledged that he should have known better and stated that he would never do it again.”
As a former soldier, prosecutors said in court filings that Boulton did indeed know better than to enter a restricted area without permission.
“He would have also known that participating in a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the peaceful transition of power was a betrayal of the oath that he took to defend the U.S. Constitution,” Krebs-Pilotti wrote.
Prosecutors cited Boulton’s social media posts before, during and after the riot as examples of his state of mind three years ago.
“Don’t come at me, oh, you lowered yourself by going into that Capitol building,” Boulton said in a video punctuated by profanities posted shortly after the riot. “We need to send them a message now that they will understand and that’s it.”
In his public-facing social media posts, Boulton downplayed the violence of the riot and alleged that it was a government conspiracy and that police let rioters inside. But in private chats revealed in court records, Boulton struck a different tone.
“Ya just stormed the Capitol building and clashes with riot police ... you know,” he wrote in one such chat. “Just (a) normal day in the life of a patriot before the civil war kicks off.”
Boulton is one of 31 people with Georgia ties to be charged in the long-running investigation. Of those, 22 have pleaded or been judged guilty in federal court.
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