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WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 (AP) – An Iowa construction worker and QAnon follower was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riot. He lost the role when he led the crowd in pursuit of a police officer who diverted the rioters away from lawmakers.
Douglas Jensen, wearing a t-shirt celebrating the conspiracy theory and with his arms outstretched, became one of the most memorable images of the riots.
Sentencing, Judge Timothy Kelly said he was not sure Jensen understood the gravity of the violence in which he played a “significant role”.
“It breaks our previously unbroken tradition of peaceful transfers of power. We can’t take it back,” Kelly said. “I wish I could say I have evidence that you understand this cannot be repeated.”
Jensen was convicted in a seven-count trial, including felony charges that he obstructed Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote and that he assaulted or interfered with police officers during the siege. His sentence also includes three years of supervised release and a $2,000 fine.
He issued a terse statement to the judge, saying he wanted to go back “to being a family man, back to my normal life before I dabbled in politics”.
Kelly said Jensen scaled a retaining wall and entered through a broken window so he could be one of the first to storm the Capitol that day. He led a group that chased Capitol Police Sergeant Eugene Goodman up the stairs. He would later re-enter the building and scuffle with officers.
“Doug Jensen wanted to be the poster child for the rebellion,” said prosecutor Emily Allen.
Jensen’s defense attorney, Christopher Davis, said Jensen wore a T-shirt with a large “Q” on it because he wanted to give conspiracy theories credit for what happened that day.
Davis said Jensen’s own “horror childhood” influenced his later belief in the unfounded belief that former President Donald Trump was secretly fighting enemies of the “deep state” and sponsored by satanic pedophiles and cannibals. A child sex trafficking ring run by human beings.
It also included doomsday predictions that “The Storm” was coming and would trigger the mass arrests and executions of Trump’s enemies, including then-Vice President Mike Pence, whom Trump would mock on the day for his lack of courage.
Davis argued that Jensen was dressed as “a walking ad for QAnon” and had no intention of attacking the Capitol. his representative.
Capitol Police Inspector Thomas Lloyd said Friday that Goodman’s quick response that day — moving rioters away from the Senate chamber and then finding backup — averted “enormous bloodshed.”
On Jan. 6, Pence chaired a joint session of Congress in the Senate to certify President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. Before the unrest, Trump and his allies spread lies that Pence could have somehow overturned the election results.
About 900 people have been charged with federal crimes for their Jan. 6 actions. More than 400 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly misdemeanors. Sentences for rioters ranged from misdemeanor probation to 10 years in prison for a man who attacked an officer with a metal flagpole. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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