‘QAnon Shaman’ pleads guilty to felony in US Capitol riot
The defendant, Jacob Chansley of Arizona, is a well-known figure in the QAnon movement. He went viral after the January 6 attack because of the bizarre outfit he wore while rummaging through the Capitol. He made his way to the Senate dais that was hastily vacated earlier by Vice President Mike Pence — someone Chansley falsely claimed was a “child-trafficking traitor.”
He pleaded guilty Friday during a virtual hearing in DC District Court. The guilty plea was made as part of a deal with prosecutors, and it was accepted by District Judge Royce Lamberth.
During the plea hearing, Chansley’s attorney asked yet again for his client to be released before sentencing. The Justice Department opposed this request, and Lamberth said he will issue a decision soon. When he is sentenced, Chansley will get credit for time already served in jail.
Sentencing was scheduled for November 17. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to seek a punishment between roughly three and four years in prison. This is the same potential prison term that other Capitol rioters who pleaded guilty to a single felony charge are facing.
The case highlighted how some Trump supporters are now facing real-world consequences by believing in fantastical conspiracy theories. Chansley’s support for QAnon inspired his presence at the Capitol on January 6, which landed him in jail for the previous eight months. His lawyer now says Chansley is “seeking … to step away and distance himself from the Q vortex.”
High-profile case nears an end
Mental health has been a major part of Chansley’s criminal case. He underwent a court-ordered psychological evaluation earlier this year, and his lawyer has argued that the government was making his pre-existing mental health conditions worse by keeping him behind bars before trial.
“He is a man with mental health vulnerability who has, for eight months, been in what any doctor is the worst thing you can possibly have done to you if you have a personality disorder, which is be placed in solitary confinement,” defense attorney Al Watkins said during Friday’s hearing.
Chansley answered procedural questions during the hearing and spoke briefly about the mental health evaluation. Lamberth ruled that Chansley was competent to plead guilty.
“I am very appreciative for the court’s willingness to have me in my mental vulnerabilities examined, as well as I hope that your honor certainly didn’t take any offense by anything (that) I told the psychiatrist. I certainly didn’t mean anything personal. I just said I hope you were impartial,” Chansley said, prompting Lambeth to reply that he wasn’t offended by the comment.