Federal prosecutors have requested a sentence of over four years for Capitol rioter Jacob Chansley, otherwise known as the “QAnon Shaman” in connection to his espoused belief in the QAnon conspiracy theory and the unique attire that he wore during the riot. That attire included a horned headdress and face paint, which he sported while also going shirtless. Chansley has pleaded guilty to a single felony offense of obstruction of an official proceeding, which is punishable by sentences of up to 20 years, although Chansley does not appear at all likely to receive a sentence close to the maximum. Presumably, the comparatively lower sentencing recommendation from prosecutors is connected to Chansley’s willingness to plead guilty.
Specifically, prosecutors have asked for a 51-month sentence for Chansley, which works out to four years and three months. Judges handling sentencing in these cases have the ability to go above recommendations from prosecutors, and in a slew of misdemeanor cases, federal Judge Tanya Chutkan has done exactly that. In this case, federal Judge Royce Lamberth will be handling Chansley’s sentencing, and it wasn’t clear ahead of the hearing what sentence that Lamberth might settle upon, although Chansley was asking for a sentence of time served — meaning that he’d be released right away. He’s been in custody for months, and he lost a bid to be released ahead of his sentencing.
During the riot, Chansley was among the rioters who entered the floor of the Senate, from which Senators and then-Vice President Mike Pence had just recently fled for their safety. Prosecutors described Chansley in reference to the rest of the rioters as “quite literally, their flagbearer,” in light of the American flag on a speared flagpole that he carried amid the chaos around the building. Prosecutors also said, in reference to the riot, that “[those] enormous harms, borne out of the acts of this defendant, must be deterred so that we never see a similar assault on our democracy again.”
A harsh sentence for Chansley wouldn’t be enough on its own to thwart the possibility of another attack, of course — considering how Trump and certain allies of his continue to spread lies about the election. On a more personal level, though, prosecutors did say that the “government cannot overstate the seriousness of the defendant’s conduct as a one of the most prominent figures of the historic riot,” adding that the “severity of his actions, and respect for the laws of this country, must be impressed upon him.” Prosecutors’ requests for Chansley’s sentence also include three years of supervised release after his jail time. Chansley’s lawyer has focused in part on arguments that the so-called “shaman” suffers from mental health issues.
