An Iowa construction worker and QAnon supporter was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for his role in the January 6, 2021 riot at the United States Capitol.
Douglas Jensen led a mob that was chasing a police officer who led the protesters astray. of the legislators.
With a t-shirt celebrating the QAnon conspiracy theory, and with open arms before authority, Jensen’s became one of the most representative images of the riots.
As he handed down the sentence, Judge Timothy Kelly said he was not sure Jensen understood the seriousness of a violent attack in which he played a “pivotal role”.
“It broke our tradition of the peaceful transfer of power,” Kelly said. “I wish I could say that I have evidence that you understood that this cannot be repeated.”
Jensen was convicted of seven counts, including felony obstructing Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote and assaulting or interfering with police officers during the siege. His sentence also includes three years of supervised release and a $2,000 fine.
The defendant gave a brief statement to the judge. He said he wanted to go back “to being a family man, to go back to my normal life before I got involved in politics.”
Jensen entered the Capitol through a broken window. He was one of the first people to storm the building that day, Kelly said. She led a group that chased police officer Eugene Goodman down a stairway. He would later go back into the building and fight with the police.
“Jensen wore a T-shirt with a big Q on it because he wanted the conspiracy theory to get credit for what happened that day,” said his defense attorney, Christopher Davis.
Davis said Jensen’s “childhood of horrors” influenced his faith in the unfounded belief that former President Donald Trump was secretly fighting enemies of the “Deep State” and a child sex trafficking ring run by satanic pedophiles and cannibals, the typical QAnon-driven narrative.
It also includes the apocalyptic prophecy that “The Storm” was coming and would usher in mass arrests and executions of Trump’s enemies.
Davis has argued that Jensen was dressed as a “walking QAnon advertisement” and had no intention of attacking the Capitol. He did not physically hurt people or damage anything inside the Capitol, Davis said. Many friends and family members wrote letters to the judge on his behalf.
Approximately 900 people have been charged with federal crimes for their conduct on January 6. More than 400 have pleaded guilty.
Sentences range from misdemeanor probation to 10 years in prison in the case of a man who used a metal pole to assault an officer.
Associated Press/OnCuba.
