‘Poster boy’ of Capitol riot sentenced in Jan. 6 attack - The Washington Post

“I wanted Q to get the attention,” Jensen told the FBI aft his arrest. “I fundamentally intended connected being the poster boy.”

“You … enactment yourself astatine the forefront of the mob,” U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly told Jensen successful tribunal Friday. “There was thing patriotic astir it, nary substance however overmuch you mightiness not person liked however the process of electing a president was perceived.”

Kelly noted that Jensen traveled to Washington with others carrying military-style rifles, was 1 of the archetypal 10 radical who breached the Capitol, and “waved on” and encouraged others to articulation him. The justice said America’s freedoms of speech, petition and protestation transportation the work of doing truthful peacefully.

“What nary 1 tin bash nether immoderate circumstances is go portion of a mob utilizing unit and the menace of unit to disrupt Congress’s quality to fulfill its relation to process the certification of the electoral vote. That’s what you did,” Kelly said. “It’s a occurrence that much radical were not injured and did not suffer their lives that day. … What would person happened if that radical you led turned the different mode into a enclosure afloat of Senators, God lone knows.”

Jensen, a QAnon conspiracy follower, was recovered blameworthy astatine proceedings successful September of 7 national counts aft coming to Washington believing that members of Congress and Vice President Mike Pence were going to beryllium arrested for opposing President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the results.

Prosecutors asked for a 64-month sentence, astatine the midpoint of a 57- to 71-month national guidelines range, calling Jensen “a ringleader during the onslaught connected the U.S. Capitol.” Jensen was convicted of 3 felony offenses, including rioting, assaulting constabulary and obstruction of a legislature proceeding, punishable by up to 20 years.

Jensen “came to Washington, D.C., prepared for violence, and erstwhile the time approached, helium played a important relation starring the convulsive assemblage past the constabulary line, into the gathering and done the halls of the Capitol,” adjunct U.S. attorneys Emily W. Allen and Hava Mirell wrote successful sentencing papers.

U.S. Capitol Police Inspector Thomas Loyd told the tribunal that Jensen had Goodman to convey for being capable to permission the gathering connected his ain feet, crediting the officer’s “quick thinking” for helping forestall rioters from attempting to breach the Senate Lobby doors.

If they had, “there would person been tremendous bloodshed,” Loyd said, adding that respective of his officers who were injured had to beryllium carried out. He said 20 percent of 350 officers assigned to him person separated from the department.

Jensen’s defence asked for little than fractional that time, saying that contempt Jensen’s “theatrical” relation successful the Capitol breach, helium committed nary unit and physically harmed nary one. His defence besides said helium has freed himself of his seeming QAnon addiction, an outgrowth of sealed idiosyncratic past that should categorize him arsenic an “outlier” among Jan. 6 defendants.

“Mr. Jensen is simply a passionate antheral who became embroiled successful conspiracy theories and blimpish politics. However, helium has nary past of being a governmental activist. He is an uneducated national laborer who became overwhelmed by conspiracy theories disseminated connected the internet,” defence lawyer Christopher M. Davis wrote. “He was wrong. And present helium remains incarcerated astir 2 years later, portion his household suffers his absence.”

Jensen expressed nary remorse successful a connection to the court.

“I can’t alteration my past,” Jensen said. “I tin lone look to the future. I don’t mean to beryllium progressive successful the justness strategy aft this,” Jensen said. “I’d similar to beryllium progressive successful being a genitor again and to spell backmost to my mean beingness earlier I got progressive successful politics.”

Kelly said helium would person fixed Jensen a longer condemnation but for the utmost circumstances of his childhood.

Jensen’s lawyer argued, “I deliberation helium needs aesculapian assistance to travel to grips to what happened to him arsenic a kid … forces wholly retired of his control” related to his background, wellness and intelligence health.

The regularisation meant to abstracted Jensen from the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, which the FBI has warned could promote unit among immoderate believers of its mendacious foundational assertion that a cabal of Satan-worshipping “global elites” and “deep state” planetary child-sex traffickers were engaged successful plots to behaviour a coup against Trump.

The FBI successful a June 2021 menace appraisal noted that much than 20 self-identified QAnon adherents had been arrested successful the storming of the Capitol, stating that immoderate of its convulsive followers were apt to statesman believing that they had an work to displacement “towards engaging successful real-world violence,” portion others disengaged.

The appraisal said their beingness underscored however the existent situation “likely volition proceed to enactment arsenic a catalyst for immoderate to statesman accepting the legitimacy of convulsive action.”

Davis said determination are nary specified concerns with Jensen, writing: “Deterrence is simply a nonissue. The isolation of the pandemic, the allegations of the erstwhile president, and QAnon drops are each a happening of the past.”