Thread by @KlasfeldReports

Jacob Chansley—the Viking-hat, coyote-fur-headdress, and face paint sporting "shaman" who invaded the Capitol and left an ominous note for Pence—is about to be sentenced for obstructing the congressional proceeding on Jan. 6.

I'll cover the hearing for @LawCrimeNews.

We're about to begin. The parties introduce themselves:

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly L. Paschall for the government.

Al Watkins for the defense.

AUSA Paschall slams Chansley's supporters for characterizing his actions that day as "peaceful" and protected by the right to "peaceably assemble."

"If the defendant had been peaceful on that day, we would not be here."

Showing a video of what sounds like a melee from the Jan. 6 mob, the AUSA adds:

"Your honor, that is not peaceful, that is chaos."

(The video cannot be seen over the telephone's public audio.)

The prosecutor shows a video of Chansley shouting "time's up motherfuckers" while entering the Senate chambers:

"Your honor, that is chilling."

AUSA Paschall refers to Chansley's note for VP Pence:

“It’s only a matter of time. Justice is coming!”

Now playing: Chansley shouting his "prayer" through the bullhorn pining for the elimination of his supposed enemies in the government.

"That invocation is not peaceful. It is terrifying," Paschall said.

The prosecutor continues her incantation: "That is not peaceful. That is criminal obstruction."

Conceding that there's no evidence Chansley assaulted someone, the prosecutor adds: "That alone does not a peaceful person make."

"Asking for the lawmakers, 'Time is up' in the gallery of the Senate says all you need to know about the 'peacefulness' of that day."

Judge Lamberth presses the prosecutor on whether there's evidence Chansley knew that members of that mob threatened to hang Pence.

With the disclaimer "Excuse my language," she responds that the context is Chansley shouting: "Mike Pence is a fucking traitor."

After "shouting obscenities" at lawmakers, the prosecutor says of Chansley: "He leaves that chilling note for the Vice President of the United States."

AUSA: "We ask for a sentence at the top of the guidelines for the flagbearer" of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

AUSA says that the sentence must send a message: "Don't think that the justice system will stand idly by while you try to end that peaceful transfer of power. Don't."

Al Watkins up for the defense. He praises the AUSA and the judge.

Watkins: "I have come to conclude that the events of Jan. 6 are not of the same degree of abhorrence as Pearl Harbor" or 9/11, even though I "cannot deny the attack of democracy that occurred."

Watkins speaks about Chansley's service as a U.S. Navy supply clerk seaman apprentice:

"He was a member of our armed forces. He was a sailor."

Watkins mentions this in citing Chansley's diagnosis some 15 years ago with schizotypal personality disorder: lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-br…

When a young sailor, Chansley was a "pie-faced young man" failed by the government, which didn't properly treat this "mentally challenged" man, Watkins says.

Watkins speculates that Chansley might not be in the courtroom today if his mental health condition was properly treated.

Judge Lamberth: "He made himself the image of the riot."

"He made himself the very image of the riot."

Watkins agrees.

Watkins says there is an "optics-driven desire"—not necessarily an ill-intended one, he adds—to punish his client.

Watkins says the government's arguments may be "legally sound" but constitute a "rote refrain."

Watkins pushing the 15-year-old diagnosis:

"Not all of those who participated in the events of Jan. 6 were sane."

"This court has the choice and the opportunity to ensure that justice is indeed done."

Blaming the government for allegedly not treating Chansley after his diagnosis, Watkins said: "Tragically that decision in 2006 is impacting us today."

Watkins says that Chansley has "endured" the entirety of his 317 days of pre-trial incarceration alone—without family or friend visitations.

Only visits with Watkins, his attorney.

"And that's horrific," Watkins cracks.

The judge chuckles at that line.

Watkins refers to Chansley's alleged "shamanic" diet of organic food.

Note: A judge ordered that Chansley be provided with organic meals in jail because of his professed beliefs, which actual shamanism experts—questioned.

"[H]e gets high sartorial marks for headgear and ink.”

Context:

When he first raised mental health issues about his client, Watkins referred to Jan. 6 rioters as "short-bus people," telling my colleague @Aaron_Keller_ that his "less than politically correct" framing was strategic.

lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-si…

Chansley is going to speak, his lawyer says.

Watkins on Chansley: "This is a straight-shooting young man who had some problems."

Chansley is up:

He starts by praising the judge for his "integrity" and his "honor," and by ordering that he be provided with organic meals in prison.

Judge: "I took a lot of flak for that."

Chansley said he asked himself in solitary:

"What would Jesus do?"

And he claims that he then asked himself:

"What would Gandhi do?"

He says: "I look up to these men."

Chansley says that he also looks up to Justice Clarence Thomas.

Chansley:

"If the law is broken and there's no punitive action," there's "anarchy."

He says: "I broke the law" and "should do what Gandhi would do."

"That's what men of honor do."

Chansley: "I was wrong for entering the Capitol. I have no excuse, no excuse whatsoever," calling his behavior "indefensible."

"I am not an insurrectionist. I am certainly not a domestic terrorist. I am a good man who broke the law."

Chansley criticizeds other Jan. 6 rioters locked up in jail, saying they are acting "like they're in the Holiday Inn."

Chansley pivots to media-bashing, claiming the press's m.o. is "looking at a small portion" of "targeted individuals" to make them controversial.

"I certainly have been controversialized—for sure."

Earlier, Chansley compared his lawbreaking to Gandhi beating his wife.

Interesting note on the lucidity of Chansley's remarks.

https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1461007361729040385

Just a note on issues of mental illness:

Schizotypal personality disorder, which the defense says was Chansley's diagnosis, is not to be confused with schizophrenia.

The defense itself has framed it in terms of sanity, and these issues tend to be more complicated.

This is an important note that the defense's framing appears to obscure. (The press release announcing Chansley's diagnosis mistakenly referred to it as “Schizophrenia Personality Disorder.”)

https://twitter.com/NYGBCpod/status/1461008990524084224?s=20

Chansley: "My shamanic attire was designed to ward off evil spirits, not to scare people."

Reminder:

https://twitter.com/KlasfeldReports/status/1461002177686777865?s=20

Chansley: "I want the trauma to stop. It want it to stop, and I want to heal," adding "Now that I know that I have a disorder."

Chansley keeps praising the judge and his military service.

"I could not have asked God for a better judge" to judge his character, calling him a "wise man."

Chansley's speech clocks near the 30 minute mark.

Chansley swears what he calls a "holy oath":

"I will never re-offend ever again, and I will always from hereon forward think of the ramifications of what I do."

Chansley ends his remarks like a politician on the stump, rather than a criminal defendant awaiting his sentence:

"God bless you and may God bless the United States of America."

Judge Lamberth praises Chansley's remarks as, in the judge's words, reminiscent of MLK's. But he adds:

"What you did was terrible. You made yourself the epitome of the riot."

Jacob Chansley SENTENCED to 41 months in prison, the lower end of the federal guidelines.

Story soon @LawCrimeNews

ICYMI:

"Jacob Chansley, the ‘Flagbearer’ and ‘Very Image’ of Jan. 6 Siege, Sentenced to More Than Three Years in Prison"

He must also pay $2,000 and serve three years supervised release after his term.

My recap via @LawCrimeNews lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-br…