THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11 , 2021. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE B5
BY JASMINE HILTONJacob Chansley, whose photo
showing him dressed in horns
and face paint — and his self-pro-
claimed title “QAnon Shaman” —
made him one of the most recog-
nized defendants in the Jan. 6
attack on the U.S. Capitol, is ask-
ing for a sentence “significantly
below” the range recommended
under federal guidelines.
Chansley, 34, pleaded guilty to
felony obstruction of Congress in
early September and faces a mini-
mum of three years in prison.
In a sentencing memorandum
filed Tuesday with the U.S. Dis-
trict Court for the District of Co-
lumbia, Chansley’s attorney, Al-
bert Watkins, offered as reasons
in asking for a sentence below
federal guidelines of an estimated
41 to 51 months in federal prison:
his client’s lifelong mental health
issues, which he said had led to
Chansley’s participation in the
attack; his subsequent coopera-
tion with authorities; and his
“sincere remorse for his conduct.”
“He seeks not to be seen as a
political prisoner. He seeks not to
blame a former president for his
actions. He seeks not to justify his
actions with any explanation. He
seeks solely to be held account-
able,” the memorandum said.
Prosecutors asked for the maxi-
mum prison sentence of 51
months, three years of supervised
release and $2,000 restitution.
“ Defendant Chansley’s now-
famous criminal acts have made
him the public face of the Capitol
riot,” prosecutors said.
They went on to say that Chan-
sley was among the first of hun-
dreds of rioters who breached the
Capitol that day and that in the
months leading up to the insur-
rection, Chansley used “his social
media presence to spread the type
of false information and hateful
rhetoric that led thousands of
rioters to descend on the U.S.
Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
Prosecutors said his entering
the building with a “six-foot
spear,” leaving a threatening note
for Vice President Mike Pence and
ignoring Capitol Police officers’
orders to evacuate the Capitol
justify a 51-month sentence.
“The government argues that a
sentence of less than 51 months of
incarceration would be insuffi-
cient to impress upon the defen-
dant the seriousness of his ac-
tions and ensure the safety of the
nation,” the memorandum said.
Watkins said that at the date of
sentencing Chansley will have
served 317 days in solitary con-
finement because of coronavirus
protocols. He wants to be credited
with time served, t he memo said.
Chansley admitted in the mem-
orandum that he entered the Cap-
itol “ sporting his Shaman attire,
replete with face paint, a tattoo-
covered, naked upper torso, and a
fur pelt.” The memorandum said
Chansley cooperated with au-
thorities upon his return to hishome in Phoenix and acknowl-
edged that he was “the man who
had been photographed in the
Capitol adorned by horns in a
fashion consistent with his Sha-
man faith.”
Watkins said Chansley’s ap-
pearance indicated his “mental
health vulnerabilities” on the day
of the attack.
“On January 6, 2021, the
i mages of Mr. Chansley sponta-
neously and globally became
iconic images inextricably linked
to and commanding immediate
association with the events at the
Capitol. They have become to Jan-
uary 6 what the Swoosh is to
Nike,” Watkins said in the memo.
“These initial, emotion-driven
impressions of Mr. Chansley
should have been tempered by
what in hindsight were obvious
indicia of mental health vulnera-
bilities.”
Watkins compared Chansley’s
actions at the Capitol to “appar-
ent Forest [sic] Gump-like oblivi-
ousness” resulting from trauma
and abuse in his childhood.
According to the memoran-
dum, Chansley was named an
“oddball” by classmates and bul-
lied throughout his schooling.
During his time in the U.S. Navy
from 2006 to 2007, Chansley con-
sulted the ship’s medical doctoron whether he was “crazy” and,
after consultations, was diag-
nosed as having a “Schizotypal
Personality Disorder,” the memo-
randum said. Watkins said his
client was not given proper treat-
ment after the diagnosis and was
not even told of the diagnosis.
Chansley continued on his own
spiritual path as a “loner” until he
became involved with social me-
dia following President Donald
Trump’s run for reelection in
2020, which Watkins said created
a “powerful socio stressor” that
triggered Chansley’s undisclosed
disorder, which in turn led to his
actions at the Capitol.
Watkins said Wednesday that
he is “deeply concerned” by the
government’s sentencing memo.
“They chose to take the guy in
the best costume and to vilify him
and mischaracterize him,” Wat-
kins said. “The government knew
through it’s own doctors he pos-
sessed a mental health disorder.... O ur vulnerable do not need to
be treated this way.”
Chansley asked for a sentence
that would allow him to continue
with his “pursuit of his mental
and physical health prioritized,”
the memo said.
He faces sentencing Wednes-
day.
[email protected]
THE DISTRICT
‘QAnon Shaman’ asks court for reduced sentence
MANUEL BALCE CENETA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Supporters of President Donald Trump, including Jacob Chansley, right, are confronted by U.S.
Capitol Police officers outside the Senate Chamber during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.ALEXANDRIA SHERIFF’S OFFICE/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chansley, 34, is awaiting
sentencing after pleading guilty
to felony obstruction of
Congress in early September.lence against the police, received
sentences of eight and 14 months.
In the days after the assault on
Congress, Fairlamb posted and
then deleted videos of himself at
the Capitol, and issued state-
ments such as “It’s go time,” “Q
said this word for word,” and “I’d
go again,” according to court rec-
ords. Prosecutors on Wednesday
played videos of Fairlamb assault-
ing the D.C. police officer and
shouting at him, “Are you an
American? Act like... one. You
guys have no idea what the...
you’re doing!”
But Fairlamb has since become
apologetic, with his attorney say-
ing in his sentencing memoran-
dum that “he did, in fact, feel as if
he had been duped by social me-
dia prior to Jan. 6.” He agreed to
meet with the House Select Com-
mittee investigating the attack,
which his lawyer said the D.C. jail
denied, and he suffered a heart
attack while in custody.
The federal sentencing guide-
lines called for a sentencing range
of 41 to 51 months. Prosecutors
asked Judge Royce Lamberth to
impose 44 months. Fairlamb’s
lawyer, Harley Breite, asked for a
sentence of 11 months, the time he
has already served since his Janu-
ary arrest. Fairlamb pleaded
guilty in August to assaulting an
officer and obstructing an official
proceeding of Congress.
“I take full responsibility for
what I did,” Fairlamb told the
judge. “That is not Scott Fairlamb.
That’s not who I am. That’s not
who I was raised to be. I truly
regret my actions that day. I have
nothing but remorse.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie
Goemaat, after laying out Fair-
lamb’s activities and playing some
videos for the judge, told Lam-
berth that Fairlamb targeted po-
lice officers and contributed to
“the chaos and the fear” of that
afternoon. “It is just critical,” Goe-
maat said, “that the court’s sen-
tence convey to future rioters that
there will be very, very serious
consequences for those who in-
tend to obstruct the rule of law
and obstruct democracy, particu-
larly through assaults on law en-
forcement.”
Fairlamb was not accused of
conspiring with anyone or caus-
ing any damage to the Capitol,
though he was ordered to pay
FAIRLAMB FROM B1
$2,000 in restitution for damages
to the building. He also was cap-
tured on video speaking with Cap-
itol Police officers, offering them
water and walking them away
from an entrance to the building,
which prosecutors said the offi-
cers corroborated.
Fairlamb drove alone from his
home in Sussex, N.J., on the morn-
ing of Jan. 6 and did not bring any
weapons. Prosecutors noted he
picked up a police baton from the
ground, and was photographed
carrying it, but did not appear to
use it on anyone. When he firstarrived at the Capitol, he was pho-
tographed holding a sign that
read “Area Closed” while gestur-
ing with his middle finger toward
the camera, according to court
records.
Next, he was seen on the inau-
guration scaffolding and posted
video from that vantage point to
Instagram, prosecutors said in
their sentencing memo. “We ain’t... leaving either! We ain’t...
leaving!” Fairlamb is heard
screaming, in a video which Goe-
maat played in court Wednesday.
Fairlamb is next seen at a skir-
mish line with police, crossing it
as barricades were pushed over,
and picking up the police baton,
court records show. He then post-
ed a video on Facebook, holding
the baton and yelling, “What Pa-
triots do? We... disarm them and
then we storm the... Capitol!”
Fairlamb also posted selfies of
himself holding the baton and
placing an unexploded pepper
ball in his teeth.
Surveillance video shows Fair-
lamb entering the Capitol mo-
ments after the Senate wing door
was opened, then leaving through
the same door minutes later. Soon
after, he is seen offering Capitol
Police water and helping them
leave the area.
But within 20 minutes, pros-
ecutors said, he is seen shoving
and then punching a D.C. officer,
identified as “Z.B.” Goemaat said
the officer submitted a victim im-
pact statement that said he had
never felt the dread and fear he
felt when he was dispatched to the
Capitol. “It was the scariest day of
his career,” Goemaat said the offi-
cer wrote. The officer was not
injured.
Lamberth noted that Fairlamb
was the first defendant to be sen-
tenced for assaulting an officer
and that he had watched the vid-
eos of Fairlamb on Jan. 6.
“Had you gone to trial,” the
judge said, “I don’t think there’s
any jury that could have acquitted
you or would have acquitted you.
You certainly made the right deci-
sion, you and your attorney, to
plead guilty.”
Lamberth said, “It’s such a seri-
ous offense under the circum-
stances, an affront to society and
to the law, to have the Capitol
overrun and to have this riot stop
the whole functioning govern-
ment, that I just find that it’s such
a serious crime that I cannot give
a below-guideline sentence.” The
judge said the minimum sentence
under the guidelines, 41 months,
was appropriate.
Lamberth rejected the govern-
ment’s request to impose a fine on
Fairlamb, who said he had lost his
gym as a result of his arrest.
[email protected]Spencer S. Hsu contributed to this
report.4 1-month prison term s ti≠est given to Jan. 6 rioters
IMAGES FROM SENTENCING DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED TO U.S. DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
A video still from a Capitol surveillance camera shows Scott Fairlamb of New Jersey carrying a
collapsible police baton and entering the building during the Jan. 6 riot.A selfie photo of Fairlamb with
a pepper ball at the Capitol. He
pushed an officer into a group
of people and punched the
officer’s face shield.JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST
Amid scrutiny of D.C. jail conditions, the U.S. Marshals Service
transferred 90 people out of its Central Detention Facility on
Tuesday and had plans to move 47 additional residents Wednesday.During Wednesday’s Judiciary
and Public Safety Committee
hearing, the Public Defender
Service played audio of clients
describing conditions similar to
those described in the letter from
the Marshals Service. One person
described being treated worse
than an animal, without regular
food or the ability to bathe.
The agreement between the
city and the Marshals does not
explicitly halt the transfer of in-
carcerated people, but D.C. Depu-
ty Mayor for Public Safety and
Justice Chris Geldart said
Wednesday that he hopes it will
eliminate the need for such move-
ment. The Marshals Service
transferred 90 people out of the
Central Detention Facility (CDF)
on Tuesday, Geldart said, and had
plans to move 47 additional resi-
dents on Wednesday. The deputy
mayor said he did not expect
further movement this week.
“We appreciate this collabora-
tion with the U.S. Marshals Serv-
ice,” D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser
(D) said in a statement. “And are
ready to utilize the necessary re-
sources, both federal and local, to
improve conditions and address
any deficiencies at our DOC facili-
ties.”
At a Judiciary and Public Safe-
ty oversight roundtable Wednes-
day, local elected officials, attor-
neys and activists slammed
Geldart — a nd by extension
Bowser — for not addressing
what they characterized as long-
standing and inhumane condi-
tions at the jail. In tense exchang-
es, Geldart said there are “some
systemic issues” at the jail but
insisted that the facility has re-
mained habitable for residents.
“Are we meeting the standard
that we owe persons under our
custody?” D.C. Council member
Robert C. White Jr., a Democrat
who is running for mayor, asked
Geldart at the hearing.
“I believe in many areas of the
facility we are,” the deputy mayor
replied, before acknowledging
the “challenges within the facili-
ty.”
DOC Director Quincy Booth
did not attend the roundtable
because he is on “personal leave,”
Geldart said.
Council members, attorneys
and activists alike said they had
been trying to alert D.C. officials
of breakdowns at the jail for
years, if not decades, and were
dismayed that it took a federal
agency intervening — after com-
plaints from largely White in-
mates — to inspire significant
action from the city.
The vast majority of incarcerat-
ed people who had been com-
plaining of mistreatment for dec-
ades, attorneys and council mem-
bers said, were people of color.
Ninety-three percent of people
currently detained are Black or
Brown, according to the Public
Defender Service. Black people
alone make up 87 percent of
detainees in jail but only 45 per-
cent of the District’s population.
But the surprise inspection
from Marshals Service followed a
flurry of complaints from White
prisoners charged in the Jan. 6
Capitol riot about conditions at
the jail’s Correction Treatment
Facility (CTF). The Marshals
Service found that the CTF wasJAIL FROM B1 “largely appropriate and consis-
tent with federal prisoner deten-
tion standards.”
Still, the Marshals Service let-
ter elicited public outrage from
both sides of the aisle as elected
officials demanded tours of the
facility. On Nov. 4, a delegation of
council members visited the facil-
ity alongside Reps. Marjorie Tay-
lor Greene (R-Ga.) and Louie Go-
hmert (R-Tex.), who blasted the
jail on social media. Greene and
Gohmert said Jan. 6 defendants
are being treated as if they were in
a “prisoner of war camp.” D.C.
Council Chairman Phil Mendel-
son (D) sent a letter to Bowser on
Wednesday requesting an expla-
nation as to why she allowed the
two “pro-Trump right-wing mem-
bers of Congress” to visit the jail.
“I’m deeply disturbed that we
only have attention now that the
January 6th insurrectionists car-
ried attention to this issue,” D.C.
Council member Trayon White Sr.
(D-Ward 8) said at the hearing
Wednesday. White is also running
for mayor, and Bowser an-
nounced a run for reelection.Geldart partially pointed to the
pandemic for generating “persis-
tent problems to fill positions
with qualified candidates” and
creating backlogs in the court
system that have filled the jail to
levels not seen since the 2018
fiscal year. He said employees at
the jail have been working 12-
hour shifts, up from eight hours,
since April 2020.
He also underscored the age of
the facility, which was erected in
1976, to explain why DOC staff
have had little time to tend to
“more in-depth regular mainte-
nance.” In fiscal year 2021,
Geldart said the agency per-
formed 927 repairs. Now, he said,
it averages 200 to 250 work or-
ders each month, almost 80 per-
cent of which are for clogged
toilet pipes or sink drains.
The deputy mayor’s concerns
about the physical conditions
were echoed by council members,
who in a letter to Bowser on
Wednesday urged her to follow a
blueprint for a new correctional
facility that a D.C. task force on
jail and justice created over the
last two years.
“In short, we call on you to
immediately improve conditions
at the Department’s facilities and
prioritize funding for the design
and construction of a new correc-
tional facility in the District,”
wrote the five council members
on the Judiciary and Public Safety
Committee, led by Chair Charles
Allen (D-Ward 6).
They said failing to fund the
project would “knowingly expose
the District to increasing liability
and federal intervention.”
[email protected]District o∞cials
take heat over
problems at jail
“I’m deeply disturbed
that we only have
attention now that the
January 6th
insurrectionists carried
attention to this issue.”
Council member Trayon White Sr.Stay one step ahead of the weather with the
Capital Weather Gangumbrella or su nscreen?S0141 2x2@capitalweatherwashingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang