Thread by @ZoeTillman

Hello from Judge Royce Lamberth's virtual courtroom, where a plea hearing will start soon for Jacob Chansley, the Arizona man known as the QAnon shaman, who wore horns and facepaint as he posed shirtless on the Senate dais and went around the Capitol s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2105…

The public line for Chansley's hearing just went live, and the automated voice says there are 168 people dialed in so far, which is a number we don't normally see for Jan. 6 hearings. If you'd like to listen:
Toll Free Number: 888-636-3807
Access Code: 6967853

There was a brief moment where the public line was unmuted, someone could be heard yelling "FREEDOM" and then everyone got muted. So that's how this is going so far.

Oh no, it happened again, more cries of "FREEDOM"

Okay, the line is now muted and the plea hearing is underway for Jacob Chansley. It sounds like they may have already started before the line kicked on, Chansley's lawyer Al Watkins is discussing a compentency analysis

Lamberth gives Chansley a chance to address his competency, Chansley says he appreciated the judge allowing an eval of his "mental vulnerabilities" and says he hopes the judge didn't take offense at anything he said in the eval, he just said he hoped the judge was "impartial"

Lamberth says he didn't take offense at anything and thought that what Chansley said was "fairly pleasant." So Chansley's competency to proceed is established and they're going forward

Chansley is pleading guilty to one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, the most serious charge in the indictment. It has a max sentence of 20 years in prison, though Chansley likely faced far less than that to begin with, given lack of criminal history

Chansley has been in pretrial detention since his arrest. His lawyer says they'll continue to press a pending request that he be released while he awaits sentencing

Lamberth discusses that there's a statement of offense laying out what Chansley did in the Capitol on Jan. 6 (we don't have docs yet).

Lamberth asks Chansley: "And that’s what really happened?"

"Yes, your honor," Chansley replies.

Lamberth accepts Chansley's guilty plea, we haven't gotten a description so far of the estimated sentencing guidelines range that he's facing for entering this plea

Re: Chansley's release - Lamberth says the release motion was already filed but it's under seal because of some info in it. Watkins says it has to do with an exhibit attached and he can argue it now without disclosing that info

Watkins, arguing for Chansley's release, notes he voluntarily surrendered on Jan. 9, has not been disruptive in jail, and has been largely held in solitary confinement for 22-23 hours/day

Ah there's the estimated sentencing guidelines range: Chansley is facing 41-51 months in prison as of now, per the prosecutor

The govt is arguing to keep Chansley detained pending sentencing, and noted the estimated sentencing range because it's much higher than the time he's served so far (8 months) + time until sentencing

Watkins argues that keeping Chansley in jail will exacerbate his mental health vulnerabilities. Lamberth isn't going to rule now, saying he'll take the issue under advisement, so Chansley will remain in jail for now

Watkins concluded his remarks by saying the "real truth" of Jan. 6 would be how the justice system "employed patience and compassion" for people with mental health issues

Lamberth sets an in-person sentencing hearing ("One way or another I hope," he says) for Chansley for Nov. 17 at 10am

That's a wrap on Chansley's plea hearing, the judge says he'll rule as quickly as possible on whether to grant Chansley's request to be released pending sentencing

Jacob Chansley — an Ariz. man who became one of the most notorious participants in the Jan. 6 riots after he was photographed storming the Capitol wearing face paint and horns and triumphantly posed shirtless on the Senate dais — pleaded guilty today buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

Here's Jacob Chansley's full plea agreement, just docketed: s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2105…

Story: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

This explains why Chansley is facing 41-51 months for pleading guilty to the obstruction count, while Paul Hodgkins had a range of 15-21 months for the same charge. Chansley got a +8 enhancement b/c offense involved threatening to injure/cause property damage in order to obstruct

Recall that in arguing to keep Chansley in pretrial detention, the govt said he was eligible despite not being charged with violence because he'd been carrying around a weapon in the Capitol — a flapole with a spear tip