Owen Shroyer, who was described in media reporting from HuffPost as effectively a sidekick to Alex Jones, the longtime agitator in far-right media, has pleaded guilty to a federal criminal offense stemming from his participation in the attack on the Capitol in early 2021. That violence was perpetrated, of course, under the direct inspiration of lies that Donald Trump and allies of his were telling about the 2020 presidential race.
Shroyer’s original charges included apparently just misdemeanors, and the charge that was the subject of his plea arrangement was a trespassing offense. While originally at the Capitol, he actually called into a broadcast from Infowars, which is Jones’s media platform. Predictably, Shroyer previously said he’d be maintaining his innocence, though he could probably still be expected after this plea agreement to turn around and insist he’s become some kind of victim of imagined political persecution. Nobody made him or anybody else enter the restricted area around the Capitol or commit physical violence. (It doesn’t appear Shroyer himself was accused of physical assaults.)
As also summarized by HuffPost, Shroyer has also agreed to what has been described as cooperation with federal authorities in additional investigative work. It’s feasible that those further efforts could simply entail additional attempts to uncover the truth of what so many people did at and around the Capitol that day, considering a portion of the plea deal that relates to the cooperation specifies prosecutors have an interest in looking at Shroyer’s social media activity from the time period around January 6.
Jones has separately been the subject of massive legal challenges over false statements he made about the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, though the venue for the latest stages of those challenges has effectively become bankruptcy court as the longtime host claims both personal and professional bankruptcy. Jones has been accused of deceptive financial moves to hide or otherwise shield his assets with the potential effect of avoiding the monetary payouts he’s obligated to make under the terms of how those defamation challenges originally concluded. As for Shroyer, his sentencing, where he could face months in prison, happens in September.
