Chicago man charged in January 6 riot to walk out of prison 3 years early

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A Chicago man who received one of the longest sentences in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot will walk out of prison three years early.

The ABC7 I-Team has learned a judge has ordered 44-year-old Kevin Lyons to be released from prison early Tuesday.

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It wasn't the way Kevin Lyons got into the Capitol with a few thousand other rioters that prompted a felony obstruction charge; it was what happened once he was inside. Authorities charged him with invading the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then later posting a photo of the Pelosi gateway.

Lyons called himself an idiot for what he did. He posted on social media a selfie of himself holding one of Pelosi's prized possessions: a photo that had been hanging on her office wall, posing with the late civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis.

Lyons was prosecuted for the felony and several misdemeanors and sentenced to more than four years in federal prison.

He has been locked up the Milan, Michigan penitentiary for one year.

A few months ago, the heating and air conditioner technician wrote up a motion for early release. The pro se filing cited a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that invalidated the use of obstruction laws for Jan. 6 rioters.

In the latest ruling, a Washington, D.C. judge has ordered him released, saying he's likely to win the appeal and has served enough time for the remaining misdemeanor convictions.

"He made good arguments. They're grounded in the law, they're well supported, and the judge agreed. And there's not a lot of ambiguity in the judge's opinion," said former federal prosecutor and ABC7 Chief Legal Analyst Gil Soffer.

And while Lyons may have had lawyerly help, Soffer said the Jan. 6 convict had great incentive to continue appealing the obstruction conviction.

"The felony conviction was the primary component. He received 51 months for it. It's a more serious offense. It is a felony. It was the driver for this longer sentence. So, there's every reason in the world for him to want to fight it, and he will, and he's got the Supreme Court behind him," Soffer said.

Lyons now calls himself a "gainfully employed father of two boys with no prior criminal history."

With Tuesday's prison release, he could immediately return to Chicago and his family.

The release is much earlier than the November 2026 date he was looking at.