WASHINGTON (AP) — An Iowa construction worker and QAnon follower was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. rice field. from a member of parliament.
Douglas Jensen, with his arms outstretched and a t-shirt celebrating conspiracy theories, became one of the most memorable images of the riot.
In handing down the sentence, Judge Timothy Kelly said he wasn’t sure he understood the seriousness of the violent attacks in which Jensen played a “big part”.
“It has broken our hitherto unbroken tradition of the peaceful transfer of power. It cannot be taken back,” Kelly said. “I wish I could say I had proof that you understand that this cannot be repeated.”
Jensen was found guilty on seven counts, including felonies such as obstructing Congress from certifying the electoral college votes and assaulting or obstructing a police officer during the siege. His sentence also included three years of supervised release and he was fined $2,000.
“As a family man, I want to return to my normal life before I got involved in politics,” he said in a brief statement to the judge.
Jensen climbed a retaining wall and entered through a broken window, making him one of the first to storm the Capitol that day, Kelly said. He leads a group to chase Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman to the top of the stairs. He later re-entered the building and got into a brawl with the police.
“Doug Jensen wanted to be a riot billboard,” said prosecutor Emily Allen.
Jensen wanted the conspiracy theory to take credit for what happened that day, so he wore a T-shirt with a big “Q” on it.
Davis said Jensen’s own “horror childhood” influenced his later faith in the unsubstantiated belief that former President Donald Trump was secretly fighting enemies of the “Deep State.” and influenced a child sex trafficking ring run by diabolical pedophiles and cannibals.
Also included is an apocalyptic prophecy that a “storm” would come and lead to the mass arrests and executions of Trump’s enemies, including then-Vice President Mike Pence.
Davis claimed that Jensen was dressed as a “QAnon walking ad” and had no intention of attacking the Capitol. He never gave it away, and many friends and family wrote letters to the judge on his behalf.
Goodman’s quick thinking that day — deflecting the riots from the Senate and then finding backup — averted “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 called to prove President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. Prior to the riots, Trump and his allies spread the lie that Pence could have somehow overturned the election results.
About 900 people were indicted for federal crimes in the January 6th act. More than 400 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors. Sentences for rioters range from probation for minor misdemeanors to 10 years in prison for a man who assaulted a police officer with a metal flagpole.