The “QAnon Shaman” Gets 41 Months in Prison
by Dan Friedman
November 17, 2021
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/20 ... -sentence/
Introduction:
Edit: From Courthouse News:(Mother Jones) Jacob Chansley, the “QAnon Shaman” who became the image of the January 6 Capitol riot, got 41 months in prison on Wednesday, one of the longest sentences handed out to defendants facing charges for their actions that day.
Chansley, 34, entered the Capitol and the Senate chamber on January 6, shirtless, tattooed, and wearing a fur hat with horns. His face was painted red, white, and blue and he held a spear with an American flag on it. (Chansley got his moniker by wearing similar garb at events held by adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory.) In the Senate chamber, which lawmakers had previously fled, he yelled, “Time’s up, motherfuckers.” He also left a note on the Senate desk of Vice President Mike Pence stating: “It’s only a matter of time. Justice is coming.”
Federal prosecutors called Chansley’s conduct threatening. “If the defendant had been peaceful on that day, your honor, we would not be here,” Assistant US Attorney Kimberly Paschall said Wednesday. In rambling but at times articulate remarks at his sentencing hearing Wednesday, Chansley expressed remorse. He said he wants to emulate Christ and Gandhi and cited his “shamanic beliefs.”
“My shamanic attire was designed to ward off evil spirits, not to scare people,” he said. He described struggles with mental illness and the effects of childhood trauma, including his father’s suicide, and time he has already spent in solitary confinement. “The hardest part of this is I know I’m to blame,” he said.
“I’m not an insurrectionist, I’m certainly not a domestic terrorist,” Chansley added. “I’m a good man who broke the law.
https://www.courthousenews.com/qanon-sh ... itol-riot/
Jacob Chansley asked Lamberth to see him in a more holistic light than the one in which he has been portrayed by the media and the government.
“We live two different lives. One life that we learn from, and the other after that,” Chansley said, adapting a quotation from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Bernard Malamud. “I’ve meant to give your honor a much broader perspective than media belabors to give the public. I’m asking your honor to judge a tree by its fruits.”
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"Yesterday I celebrated my 34th year as a judge. I think your remarks are the most remarkable I've heard in 34 years," Lamberth told Chansley.
Prosecutors asked for 51 months incarceration — the high end of the guidelines that recommend 41 to 51 months for the felony charge to which Chansley pleaded guilty in September: obstruction of a congressional proceeding, which can hold up to 20 years in prison.
“The message here today should be: Don't. Don't think your actions won't have consequences,” Justice Department attorney Kimberly Paschall said Wednesday. “Don't think federal law enforcement will sit idly by. Don't think you can disrupt the peaceful transition of power. Don't.”