Chansley entered Senate headquarters on January 6 armed with a spear and naked torso.
The Donald Trump follower and self-proclaimed “shaman” whose bare chest and horned fur headdress made him the face of the January 6 assault on the US Capitol was sentenced Wednesday to 41 months in prison.
The prosecution demanded more than four years in prison for Jacob Chansley, 34, who had pleaded guilty in September to invading the headquarters of Congress along with hundreds of Trump supporters to prevent legislators from certifying the victory of Joe Biden in the elections. presidential.
Chansley “became the image” of that day of chaos that shook US democracy, Judge Royce Lamberth said in sentencing.
Following a settlement, the self-described “shaman of QAnon” pleads guilty to robbery of the US Capitol.
“What you did is terrible,” he added, while taking into account the “regrets” expressed by the accused.
This same Wednesday Steve Bannon, a close ally of Trump, pleaded not guilty to charges of “obstruction of the investigative powers of Congress” in the attack on the Capitol.
The 67-year-old former adviser is on trial for refusing to testify and present documents to the special committee of the House of Representatives that investigates the role of the former Republican president in the events of the beginning of the year. He faces between 30 days and a year in prison for each of the two charges against him.
Chansley, who adheres to QAnon’s conspiracy theories, entered Senate headquarters on January 6 armed with a spear and naked torso, sat in the chair reserved for Vice President Mike Pence and left a note that read: “¡¡ It is only a matter of time, justice is coming! ”.
Assault on the United States Capitol recalled the importance of respect for the rule of law, according to Ambassador Michael J. Fitzpatrick
Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, the “shaman” was arrested a few days after the incident and has been in custody for ten months.
In September, he pleaded guilty to obstructing an official act in federal court in Washington.
On November 10, the prosecution claimed 51 months in prison, which would have been the most severe sentence handed down against a participant in the January 6 assault, despite the fact that charges of violence were dropped.
Sanction that serves to dissuade
This ruling, however severe, “will be enough to forever deter any criminal act of this kind,” prosecutor Kimberly Paschall said Wednesday.
“Justice will not sit idly by while the peaceful transfer of power is attacked.”
To explain the seriousness of the case, he recalled that Jacob Chansley had published “scathing messages” on social networks against “corrupt politicians and traitors in the government” long before the events of January 6.
Assault on the Capitol: Trump’s followers organized his violent incursion into the United States Congress on social media
“If the defendant had been peaceful, he would not be here today,” he said.
“A crowd that assaults the Capitol with the aim of interrupting the activities of the parliamentarians is not peaceful, it carries out a criminal obstruction,” he explained.
Speaking at length with the judge, Jacob Chansley stated that “he is not a dangerous criminal” but that he suffers from “personality disorders” that he wants to cure in order to become a “better man”.
“I am not a violent man, nor an insurgent and I am certainly not a terrorist. I’m just a good man who broke the law, “he explained, claiming to believe” in freedom, law and order, and responsibility.
Subjected to solitary confinement in prison, he said he had time to look in a mirror and say to himself: “Dude, you really screwed up ugly.”
Before the trial, his lawyer Albert Watkins had claimed that Chansley had repudiated the QAnon movement and said he was “disappointed” by Donald Trump.
A total of 664 people were charged to varying degrees for their involvement in the deadly assault on the Capitol, according to the George Washington University Extremism Research Program.
Five people were killed during or shortly after the attack, including a police officer and a protester killed by an officer inside the building. (I)
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