The U.S. Attorney’s office for Washington, D.C., announced this week the sentencing of Capitol riot defendant Jacob Zerkle after the Arizona man pleaded guilty late last year to a pair of felony offenses including civil disorder and assaulting, resisting, or impeding police. Zerkle was sentenced to two years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Zerkle was another of the Capitol rioters who kickstarted earlier confrontations with authorities, traversing the area as Donald Trump’s rally in the city that day was underway elsewhere. Prosecutors’ press release says Zerkle physically assaulted officers just before the Capitol building was first entered by rioting Trump supporters. Targeting a group from D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department, Zerkle’s actions “included placing his hands on the officers and forcibly pushing,” the feds said.
He reportedly traveled with his brother ahead of what became the attack. Earlier in the day, he traversed Capitol-adjacent areas with members of the far-right group the Proud Boys, which produced individuals who helped lead initial assaults. Their former national leader Enrique Tarrio was even sentenced to a whopping 21 years in prison after a conviction on criminal allegations including seditious conspiracy in relation to the Capitol violence, though he wasn’t physically present at the site on January 6. Trump has specifically complained about the consequences faced by Tarrio.
“On the morning of January 6th, Zerkle traveled to the National Mall and joined a vocal group of approximately 75 to 100 individuals that included Proud Boys leaders Joe Biggs, Charles Donohoe, Ethan Nordean, and Zachary Rehl,” that federal press release explained. Trump himself, meanwhile, continues referring to detainees with criminal allegations originating in the violence of January 6 as “hostages,” alleging political plots behind the prosecutions, though a large share of those charged — like Zerkle! — pleaded guilty.
