Prosecutors are recommending a 51-month prison sentence for Jacob Chansley, the self-proclaimed “QAnon Shaman” who wore horns and face paint while storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. The over-four-year sentence marks the harshest punishment that the Justice Department has requested for a Capitol riot defendant so far.
In their request filed in court late on Tuesday night (Nov. 9), prosecutors called Chansley the violent mob’s literal “flagbearer” and said they hope to make an example out of his case.
“Those enormous harms, borne out of the acts of this defendant, must be deterred so that we never see a similar assault on our democracy again,” the filing read.
“The government cannot overstate the seriousness of the defendant’s conduct as one of the most prominent figures of the historic riot,” it continued. “The severity of his actions, and respect for the laws of this country, must be impressed upon him.”
Chansley will be sentenced for his crimes next Wednesday (Nov. 17) by federal Judge Royce Lamberth of the D.C. District Court. In September, he pleaded guilty to obstruction of an official proceeding — the certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral victory — and agreed to pay $2,000 in restitution for damages at the Capitol.
The Justice Department also asked that Chansley’s prison sentence be followed by three years of supervised release. In comparison, prosecutors recommended a 44-month prison sentence for a violent rioter who will also be sentenced next week by the same judge.
As reported by REVOLT, Chansley was one of the first people charged in the deadly Capitol riot, which has now led to over 650 arrests. In their filing, prosecutors alleged the Arizona native has shown little remorse for his actions in the months since the January attack.
Chansley has spent almost 10 months in jail. His attorneys asked the judge to sentence him to time served, which would mean his immediate release.