Public January 6 profile · ready to claim

Thomas Edward Blackwood, Sr.

Pardoned January 6 defendant

Archive card · not a photograph

Thomas Edward Blackwood Sr. spent 31 years as a North Charleston, South Carolina police officer before he ever became a name in a federal court file. FACT: According to a sentencing memo filed by his own attorney, Thomas Blackwood served the North Charleston Police Department for 31 years and retired as a Senior Lieutenant in 2008. That is a full career protecting a community, long before January 6, 2021 ever entered the picture. FACT: According to court documents, Capitol Police surveillance footage shows Blackwood entering the Capitol building twice on January 6, 2021. FACT: When FBI agents interviewed him in December 2021, he admitted entering once, saying he was "waved in by police," and did not disclose the second entry. He was arrested February 8, 2024. FACT: He pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors: Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building and Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building. FACT: He agreed to pay $500 toward Capitol damages. FACT: A federal judge sentenced him on November 20, 2024 to 100 hours of community service and $500 in restitution, with no prison time and no probation, well below what prosecutors had asked for. Thomas Blackwood gave North Charleston three decades of service before this. A retired Senior Lieutenant, a man who wore a badge longer than most people hold any job, sentenced in the end to community service, not a cell. The court that heard the whole record chose to weigh a career of service against one afternoon. Thomas Edward Blackwood built a life of public service in Charleston, South Carolina that this single case does not erase. January 20, 2025: President Trump issued a sweeping clemency proclamation covering January 6 defendants nationwide. NEEDS AUTHENTICATION: whether it applies to Blackwood's case, sentenced one week earlier, is not confirmed in the sources reviewed for this profile. Case record: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Arrested February 8, 2024, Charleston, South Carolina. Charges: Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building; Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building. Disposition: guilty plea, misdemeanors. Sentenced November 20, 2024: 100 hours community service, $500 restitution, no prison time. Thirty-one years of service. Read the whole record, not just the headline. This profile is unclaimed. If this is you, or your family, claiming it is free, forever.