The self-described QAnon Shaman who became the infamous symbol of the deadly Jan. 6 riot in the U.S. Capitol, marching through the building with a spear and horned helmet, could be sentenced to more than four years in prison when he faces US District Judge Royce Lamberth on Wednesday.
Four people died during the Capitol riot, including a Capitol Police officer, while about 140 police officers were injured. Other four policemen who participated in the defense of the Capitol took their own lives later.
Prosecutors pointed that the now-famous criminal acts of Jacob Chansley, who pleaded guilty in September to obstructing an official proceeding, have made him the public face of the Capitol riot and asked Judge Lamberth to impose a 51-month sentence on him.
That could be the stiffest sentence imposed on any of the thousands of other Capitol rioters and former President Trump’s followers who stormed the building in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election.
Defense lawyers have asked the judge for a sentence of time served for the former mixed martial artist Chansley, who has been detained since his January arrest and was sentenced last week to 41 months in prison after being filmed punching a police officer during the violence.
His lawyer Albert Watkins said Chansley was diagnosed with a personality disorder by the US Navy’s doctors in 2006 but they nonetheless declared him “fit for duty.”
Chansley, who was diagnosed by prison officials in detention with transient schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety, said he was disappointed Trump had not pardoned him when he entered his guilty plea.
Trump himself was impeached by the House of Representatives on a charge of inciting the January 6 riot with his fiery speech appealing to his followers to “fight like hell,” but was acquitted by the Senate.
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