Over 5 Years In Prison For MAGA Rioter Who Chased Officer Goodman Sought

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A member of last year’s Trump-incited mob that attacked the Capitol who led an infamous confrontation with Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman should receive over five years in prison after a jury found him guilty of several crimes including assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers and obstruction of an official proceeding, federal prosecutors said.

The rioter, Douglas Jensen, was carrying a knife during his participation in the riot, leading to a specification attached to two of his charges of possession of a dangerous weapon. Jensen was at the front of the crowd that chased Goodman up a series of stairs near an entrance to the Senate chamber, which was still occupied when Jensen and at least some of those with him entered the building, and Goodman — who has stayed mostly out of the public spotlight — has been widely credited with leading the angry group away from the Senate chamber, helping keep those inside safe. With members of the crowd clearly intent on inflicting physical violence against targets like Mike Pence, what would have happened if the crowd got closer? Prosecutors’ specific recommendation for Jensen is 64 months. The federal judges sentencing Capitol rioters have significant leeway to break with that which prosecutors push for, and these judges have repeatedly done so.

At one point during previous proceedings, Jensen was ordered back to pretrial detention after officers discovered him in violation of the terms of his release via using the internet. Jensen also admitted to consuming content from Mike Lindell about election-related conspiracy theories despite restrictions on his usage of the internet. Jensen had spent months in jail prior to the release from pretrial detention after which he used the internet in violation of the terms of that release. Federal Judge Timothy Kelly, in ordering his return to custody, expressed concerns that Jensen evidently hadn’t experienced the kind of “transformation” leading him away from conspiracy theories that his team had claimed. During the riot, he was even wearing a shirt with a large, distinctive “Q” printed on the front in reference to the conspiracy theory movement known as QAnon.

Jensen’s sentencing is evidently set for December 16. Several others who were involved in confronting Goodman during the riot have recently seen developments in their cases. Joshua Calvin Hughes, who participated in the riot alongside his brother and like Jensen was among the first inside the building itself, was recently sentenced to 38 months in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of obstruction of an official proceeding. His brother Jerod, who was also in the crowd chasing Goodman, will be sentenced in January after pleading guilty to the same offense. Another sentencing coming up soon is that of Nicholas DeCarlo, who wrote “Murder the Media” on a door inside the Capitol building as an associate of his filmed. The phrase was apparently the name of a social media presence with which the men were involved.

Image: Brett Davis/ Creative Commons