'Tractor Man' released after 16 months in D.C. jail

WASHINGTON (AP) — The tobacco farmer dubbed "Tractor Man," who created chaos by crashing his tractor into a pond on the National Mall, was released from jail Thursday night.

Dwight Watson, 51, shouted to reporters as he walked from the District of Columbia Jail to a waiting car, and he appeared to be saying, "Praise the Lord." Watson then got into the back of a tan Honda with Maryland license plates, flashed a peace sign through the window, and was driven off by a man and a woman.

On June 23, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson sentenced Watson to six years in prison, telling him, "The city regarded you as a one-man weapon of mass destruction."

But on Wednesday, Jackson reduced the sentence to just 16 months, most of which Watson had already served. Jackson said he felt obliged after the Supreme Court ruled on June 24 that only juries — not judges — can lengthen prison terms beyond the maximum set out in state sentencing guidelines.