Jacob Chansley, the Arizona man who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 knowns as the “QAnon Shaman,” was sentenced on Wednesday to over three years in prison.
Chansley posed at the Senate shirtless while wearing horns and face paint holding a left a handwritten note warning “JUSTICE IS COMING!”
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US District Judge Royce Lamberth sentenced Chansley to a 41-month prison sentence. Chansley, who has also been known as the “QAnon shaman,” was shockingly not charged with some of the most serious violent crimes that day.
Chansey’s sentence was lower than the 51 months in prison that prosecutors had argued for.
Previously, he had argued that he should be sentenced only to the amount of time behind bars that he’d already served, just over 10 months, and be allowed to go home and receive better mental healthcare treatment than he’s been able to get while in jail.
Prior to his sentence, Assistant US Attorney Kimberly Paschall spoke, denouncing Chansley’s supporters for calling his actions nothing more than a “peaceful” protest.
“If the defendant had been peaceful on that day, your honor, we would not be here,” she said.
Chansley addressed the court during the hearing, stating how he accepts responsibility for his actions, which he called “indefensible.” He also said his time in solitary confinement has been deeply traumatic and vowed to never commit a crime again.
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“I was wrong for entering the Capitol. I have no excuse — no excuse whatsoever,” he said.
Albert Watkins, Chansley’s attorney, acknowledged that the events of Jan. 6 were “repugnant” but said the defendant “would not have been in the Capitol” were it not for his mental health issues revealing that he has been diagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder. “It should be the proud duty of the government to protect the weak and the vulnerable,” Watkins said.
Chansley had been a follower of the QAnon up until Jan. 6 and was known in that community as the “QAnon shaman.” He has shared how his outfit at the Capitol reflected his belief in shamanism.
“The fact that we had a bunch of our traitors in office hunker down, put on their gas masks, and retreat into their underground bunker, I consider that a win,” Chansley told NBC News in an interview quoted by prosecutors in their efforts to keep him in jail after his arrest.