Jacob Chansley, the QAnon conspiratorial “shaman” who attacked Congress wearing a bearskin with horns tattooed on his bare chest, was sentenced to 41 months in prison, against the 51 charged by the prosecution for what is considered the symbolic face of the assault on Capitol Hill on January 6 last. It’s the same sentence a few days ago inflicted on Scott Fairlamb, a gym owner in New Jersey and a former mixed martial arts fighter, for assaulting an agent.
Both admitted their responsibilities and said they regretted their actions, while stating that they were not domestic terrorists. A sentence that could serve as an example for the most violent assailants of the more than 660 already indicted, as the prosecutor asked, calling Chansley’s role in the crowd attacking the Capitol “chaotic and terrifying”.
His images had gone viral as he led the assault dressed as a shaman, shouting into a megaphone and brandishing a pointed flag bearer that the prosecution equated with a weapon. Among the first 30 rioters to violate the temple of American democracy, Chansley made it to the rostrum of the Senate and left a threatening note for Vice President Mike Pence, guilty in his eyes of wanting to certify Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
After his arrest he asked in vain to pardon Donald Trump, who had instigated the attack with his rally. Then he went on a hunger strike to get organic food in his cell and spoke to the popular program “60 Minutes“From prison without permission, to plead guilty to obstructing the certification of the 2020 elections. Yesterday the last show, in the courtroom, before Judge Royce Lamberth, when for over 30 minutes he spoke with shamanic wisdom about his detention and remorse he feels for breaking the law. Chansley also cited Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and the famous film “The wings of Freedom” (The Shawshank Redemption), adding that he wants to live like Jesus and Gandhi.
“The hardest part of all this is knowing it’s my fault. Having to look in the mirror makes you crazy, ”he admitted. “I ended up in solitary confinement because of me, for my own decision, I violated the law … I have to do like Gandhi and take responsibility, there are no ifs and buts, this is what honorable men do” he added, promising that he will not go to jail again.
Words that moved the judge, but without giving up on the sentence: “I think your statements are the most remarkable I have heard in 34 years,” Lamberth told him, defining his speech “similar to what Martin Luther King would have given. “. “But – he concluded – what he did was horrible, as you yourself recognized, and does not deserve a lighter sentence”.