Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
QAnon Follower Who Chased Officer on Jan. 6 Gets 5 Years
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 2 years ago on
December 16, 2022

Share

An Iowa construction worker and QAnon follower was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, when he led a crowd chasing a police officer who diverted rioters away from lawmakers.

Wearing a T-shirt celebrating the conspiracy theory with his arms spread, Douglas Jensen became part of one of the most memorable images from the riot.

As he handed down the sentence, Judge Timothy Kelly said he wasn’t sure Jensen understood the seriousness of a violent attack in which he played a “big role.”

“It snapped our previously unbroken tradition of peaceful transfer of power. We can’t get that back,” Kelly said. “I wish I could say I had evidence you understood this cannot be repeated.”

Jensen was convicted at trial of seven counts, 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 gave a brief statement to the judge, saying that he wanted to return to “being a family man and my normal life before I got involved with politics.”

Jensen scaled a retaining wall and entered through a broken window so he could be one of the first people to storm the Capitol that day, Kelly said. He led a group that chased Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up a staircase. He would later re-entered the building and scuffle with police.

“Doug Jensen wanted to be the poster boy of the insurrection,” prosecutor Emily Allen said.

Jensen wore a T-shirt with a large “Q” on it because he wanted the conspiracy theory to get credit for what happened that day, his defense attorney Christopher Davis said.

Davis said Jensen’s own “childhood of horrors” influenced his later faith in the baseless belief that former President Donald Trump was secretly fighting against enemies in the “deep state” and a child sex trafficking ring run by satanic pedophiles and cannibals.

It also includes the apocalyptic prophesy that “The Storm” was coming and would usher in mass arrests and executions of Trump’s foes, including then-Vice President Mike Pence, who Trump would deride that day as lacking courage.

Davis has argued Jensen was dressed as a “walking advertisement for QAnon” and not intending to attack the Capitol. He did not physically hurt people or damage anything inside the Capitol, Davis said, and many friends and family members wrote letters to the judge on his behalf.

Goodman’s quick thinking that day — to divert the rioters away from the Senate and then find backup — avoided “tremendous bloodshed,” Capitol Police Inspector Thomas Lloyd said Friday.

Pence was presiding over the Senate on Jan. 6 as a joint session of Congress was convened to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. Before the riot, Trump and his allies spread the falsehood that Pence somehow could have overturned the election results.

Approximately 900 people have been charged with federal crimes for their conduct on Jan. 6. More than 400 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanor offenses. Sentences for the rioters have ranged from probation for low-level misdemeanor offenses to 10 years in prison for a man who used a metal flagpole to assault an officer.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Playful Pup Renny Leaves Street Life Behind, Awaits Adoption in Fresno

DON'T MISS

Another Top City Official Quits in Los Banos as Critical Election Looms

DON'T MISS

Madera County Farmland Conversion Program Begins With $10 Million in State Funds

DON'T MISS

Sanewashing? The Banality of Crazy? A Decade Into the Trump Era, Media Hasn’t Figured Him Out

DON'T MISS

Is Cider Better Than Beer? Taste Test This Fall to Decide!

DON'T MISS

Jury Finds Ex-Member of Rock Band Mr. Bungle Guilty of Killing His Girlfriend

DON'T MISS

Fisher-Price Recalls Over 2 Million ‘Snuga Swings’ Following the Deaths of 5 Infants

DON'T MISS

Boeing Will Lay Off 10% of Its Employees as Strike Cripples Airplane Production

DON'T MISS

Pilot’s Wife Safely Lands Plane in Bakersfield During Medical Emergency

DON'T MISS

It’s No ‘Dirty Little Secret’: All-American Rejects Rock the Big Fresno Fair

UP NEXT

Houthis Vow Retaliation Against US for Yemen Airstrikes

UP NEXT

Hurricane Helene’s Death Toll Passes 150 as Crews Search for Survivors

UP NEXT

Startling Video Shows Russian Fighter Jet Flying Within Feet of US F-16 Near Alaska

UP NEXT

US Is Sending a Few Thousand More Troops to the Middle East to Boost Security

UP NEXT

Supplies Rushed to Communities Isolated by Helene as Death Toll Hits 121

UP NEXT

At Least 52 Dead and Millions Without Power After Helene’s Deadly March Across the Southeast

UP NEXT

What to Know About Hurricane Helene and the Flooding the Storm Left Across the Southeast US

UP NEXT

More Deadly Than Wind, Storm Surge From Hurricane Helene Could Be Devastating

UP NEXT

Hearing on Trump Assassination Attempts Says Pennsylvania Failure Was With Secret Service

UP NEXT

Helene Becomes a Hurricane and Is Expected to Intensify as It Moves Toward Florida

Sanewashing? The Banality of Crazy? A Decade Into the Trump Era, Media Hasn’t Figured Him Out

10 hours ago

Is Cider Better Than Beer? Taste Test This Fall to Decide!

11 hours ago

Jury Finds Ex-Member of Rock Band Mr. Bungle Guilty of Killing His Girlfriend

1 day ago

Fisher-Price Recalls Over 2 Million ‘Snuga Swings’ Following the Deaths of 5 Infants

1 day ago

Boeing Will Lay Off 10% of Its Employees as Strike Cripples Airplane Production

1 day ago

Pilot’s Wife Safely Lands Plane in Bakersfield During Medical Emergency

1 day ago

It’s No ‘Dirty Little Secret’: All-American Rejects Rock the Big Fresno Fair

1 day ago

Hey Fresno Parents, Got Questions About Special Ed? This Guide Has Answers

1 day ago

Young People Could Tilt Power in Congress With Votes in Duarte-Gray Race

1 day ago

Fresno Sued Over Its Enforcement of Candidate Fundraising Law

1 day ago

Playful Pup Renny Leaves Street Life Behind, Awaits Adoption in Fresno

After weeks of fending for himself, Renny, a sweet-natured dog believed to be about 8 months old, is ready to trade in his life on the stree...

8 hours ago

8 hours ago

Playful Pup Renny Leaves Street Life Behind, Awaits Adoption in Fresno

9 hours ago

Another Top City Official Quits in Los Banos as Critical Election Looms

9 hours ago

Madera County Farmland Conversion Program Begins With $10 Million in State Funds

10 hours ago

Sanewashing? The Banality of Crazy? A Decade Into the Trump Era, Media Hasn’t Figured Him Out

11 hours ago

Is Cider Better Than Beer? Taste Test This Fall to Decide!

1 day ago

Jury Finds Ex-Member of Rock Band Mr. Bungle Guilty of Killing His Girlfriend

1 day ago

Fisher-Price Recalls Over 2 Million ‘Snuga Swings’ Following the Deaths of 5 Infants

1 day ago

Boeing Will Lay Off 10% of Its Employees as Strike Cripples Airplane Production

MENU

CONNECT WITH US

Search

Send this to a friend