A year and a day since a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, the first defendant from North Carolina was sentenced Friday.

Virginia “Jenny” Spencer, 38, of Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, pleaded guilty in September to one count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. A federal judge sentenced her to 90 days in prison and three years on probation.

“This was not a peaceful gathering for protest,” District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said during the sentencing hearing. “She joined the insurrection.”

“My question, which I still have, is whether she’s accepted responsibility as to the significance of what she participated in, an insurrection, not just a protest,” the judge said.

The judge gave Spencer, a mother of five, until next month to "get her affairs in order" before she surrenders to begin serving her sentence. The judge also ordered her to pay a fine and restitution.

Virginia Spencer and her husband, Christopher Spencer, were both arrested for joining the attack on the Capitol building as Congress met to certify the election of Joe Biden as president. Neither are accused of attacking police or using violence.

Christopher Spencer pleaded not guilty to five charges. His case is still pending.

The couple also had their teenage son with them in the Capitol building Jan. 6, according to court records, but there’s no record that he faces any charges related to the attack.

"I find it very hard to comprehend why you would bring a 14-year-old minor into the Capitol," the judge said Friday. "Law enforcement had weapons, some of the protesters had weapons."

"It must have been a traumatic thing to witness this kind of violence," she said. "This isn’t like a school or a tourist trip."

Federal investigators have charged more than 700 people with attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, including 15 from North Carolina.

According to court records, Christopher Spencer livestreamed much of the couple’s time in the Capitol building on Facebook. He’s heard chanting “stop the steal” in the video, the FBI said in an affidavit.

Virginia Spencer is also seen in the video, according to the FBI. She was arrested Feb. 8. Christopher Spencer was arrested on Jan. 19.

Friday's hearing was held by telephone and the public line for reporters to listen to the proceedings was down during the defense's presentation to the court.

A sentencing memo, submitted by Virginia Spencer’s lawyer last month, asks the judge for a sentence of a year’s probation and community service. The lawyer asks the judge not to impose a fine.

The 23-page memo from attorney Allen Orenburg states, “She never planned or envisioned entering the U.S. Capitol building. That is, not until Trump invited everyone to march to the U.S. Capitol.”

“Mrs. Spencer and her husband followed the large crowd there that day with no intention of doing anything but having her voice join those of thousands of other peaceful protestors,” Orenburg writes.

“Mrs. Spencer is ashamed of the fact that she was a part of it,” he said.

According to the FBI, Virginia Spencer said she and her husband followed a group of people who looked like they were part of a militia into the building.

During his live video, according to the FBI, Christopher Spencer said, "'Bro, they stormed the Capitol, bro...pushed the cops out of the way, everything...took it over.' Suddenly, the crowd, including the Spencers, rushes further forward into the building and starts chanting, 'Who’s House? Our house!' and 'Stop the steal!' repeatedly.

The memo says Virginia Spencer was motivated to go to the protest in Washington D.C. by media coverage of the Black Lives Matter protests and former President Donald Trump’s lies about the election being stolen.

“While consumption of media news is no excuse for behavior, it does demonstrate the powerful impact news stories, fake or real, have on the citizens of their country,” her lawyer said.

“Mrs. Spencer believed what she read on the internet and heard from the President himself - that the election had been stolen. She believed that there was wrongdoing in the State of Georgia, and in other States, with regard to the counting of the Presidential election votes,” according to the memo.

Her lawyer said the judge should consider that she did nothing violent or destroy any property in the Capitol, and that she cooperated with investigators when they showed up at her house in January 2021.

“As they entered the Senate wing door, people around Mrs. Spencer began to celebrate. The mood was not unlike other protests in Washington, D.C., and many persons around took selfies and appeared peaceful with cameras and flags. She felt like she was on a tour of the U.S. Capitol,” her lawyer writes.

He said Virginia Spencer did not know about the violence that led the mob to breach the building. But, he said, she did see others attacking police inside.

Christopher Spencer remains free on a personal recognizance bond and his next court date is set for Jan. 13.