Jacob Chansley, whose shirtless image on the Senate rostrum and menacing note to Vice President Mike Pence came to symbolize the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, was sentenced on Wednesday to almost three and a half years in prison, matching the harshest sentence handed down yet in the 10-month prosecution effort.
“What you did here was horrific,” U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth said as he issued the 41-month sentence, adding that he believed that Chansley — a self-described shaman and a follower of the QAnon conspiracy movement — had come to genuinely regret his actions.
Lamberth acknowledged that Chansley had not engaged in physical violence on Jan. 6, but said his role as a leader among those who went into the Senate chamber and disrupted the electoral vote tally compelled a serious prison sentence.
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“What you did was terrible. You made yourself the epitome of the riot,” said the judge, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan. “You didn’t slug anybody, but what you did here was actually obstruct the functioning of the whole government. It’s a serious crime.”
Chansley pleaded guilty in August to attempting to obstruct Congress’ effort to certify the results of the 2020 election. He sought a pardon from President Donald Trump just before his term ended, and he has since claimed he was duped by Trump into his belief that the election was stolen. He offered to testify at Trump’s impeachment trial in February but was denied.
Source: ‘QAnon shaman’ Jacob Chansley is sentenced to 41 months in prison
