The “QAnon Shaman” Gets 41 Months In Prison

The “QAnon Shaman” of January 6th infamy has been sentenced to 41 months in prison for his felony guilty plea.

CNN:

The Justice Department had asked for Chansley to receive a harsh sentence as a way to set an example among the January 6 rioters, and prosecutors have positioned Chansley as emblematic of a barbaric crowd.

Since then, Chansley gained fame as the “QAnon Shaman,” a figure known in the fringe online movement and for widely shared photos that captured him wearing face paint and a headdress inside the Senate chamber.
Judge Royce Lamberth has had Chansley held in jail since his arrest, despite his multiple attempts to gain sympathy and his release.

Other judges are likely to look to Lamberth’s sentence as a possible benchmark, since Chansley is one of the first felony defendants among more than 660 Capitol riot cases to receive a punishment.

Pictures of Chansley at the Capitol went viral because of his bizarre appearance while leading others through the Capitol, shouting into a bullhorn. As one of the first 30 rioters inside the building, he made his way to the Senate dais that was hastily vacated earlier by then-Vice President Mike Pence, and left a note that read, “It’s Only A Matter Of Time. Justice Is Coming!” according to his plea documents.

Chansley also carried an American flag on a speared flagpole, which prosecutors have characterized as a weapon.

Lamberth asked only a few questions — about Chansley’s leaving a note for Pence and whether he knew of other threats to Pence’s life coming from the crowd, and about his choices that day.

“He made himself the image of the riot, didn’t he?” Lamberth said to Chansley’s defense attorney. “For good or bad, he made himself the very image of this whole event.”

Prosecutor Kimberly Paschall used several videos to show Chansley’s entrance into the Capitol building and Senate chamber, yelling along with the crowd. “That is not peaceful.”

Paschall called his role as the “flag-bearer” of the mob “chaos” and “terrifying.”

Before January 6, Chansley “posted vitriolic messages on social media, encouraging his thousands of followers to expose corrupt politicians, to ID the traitors in the government, to halt their agenda, to stop the steal, and end the deep state,” Paschall said. “That was a call to battle.”

After the riot and his arrest, Chansley asked then-President Donald Trump for a pardon. He also went on a hunger strike in an attempt to get organic food while in custody and spoke to “60 Minutes” from jail without permission. In September, Chansley pleaded to a felony charge of obstructing Congress’ certification of the 2020 vote.