HENRICO COUNTY, VIRGINIA — Henrico County Circuit Court Judge Randall G. Johnson sentenced Zachary Alam to 20 years in prison on each of two counts in October 2025 after a jury found him guilty of breaking and entering into an occupied home and grand larceny. Johnson suspended the entirety of the grand larceny sentence and 13 years of the breaking and entering sentence, and ordered Alam to serve 20 years' probation on each conviction upon his release.

The convictions stemmed from an incident on May 8, 2025, when Henrico County officers alleged Alam broke into a home just outside Richmond, Virginia. After the family living there encountered him, Alam claimed he was at the home to fix the internet connection and fled with electronics and jewelry. Police found him in an adjacent neighborhood and arrested him the following day. Alam's arrest was believed to be the first instance of new charges brought against a pardoned January 6 attacker following presidential clemency.

"I believed in my heart I was doing the right thing. Sometimes you have to break the rules to do what's right." Alam said.

Henrico County top prosecutor Shannon Taylor said the pardon emboldened Alam to believe the law did not apply to him. Taylor said the presidential pardon did not apply to the Virginia state charges for which Alam was convicted in October.

Alam had received an eight-year prison sentence for his role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and spent nearly four years in prison before being pardoned. Donald Trump pardoned Alam and 1,500 others on the first day of his second presidency in January 2025.

Alam was convicted in federal court of eight felonies, including assaulting law enforcement, and three misdemeanors for his role in the Capitol attack. Prosecutors outlined that he was among the first of a mob that entered the Capitol from its west lawn and hurled items at police from a balcony. He used a helmet to shatter three glass panes in the door through which Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot by an officer defending the U.S. House chambers, then left while urging others to return later with guns.

The Trump administration reached a $5 million settlement to resolve a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Babbitt's family. The settlement resolved claims brought by her family following her death during the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.