Feds get 41 months for one high-profile January 6 rioter and seek 51 months for another

Two new Politico articles provide updates on the latest sentencing news from the prosecution of persons involved in the January 6 Capitol riot.  Here are links and excerpts:

"N.J. man hit with toughest sentence yet in Jan. 6 attack":

A federal judge on Wednesday imposed the most serious sentence yet in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, ordering a New Jersey man to serve almost three-and-a-half years in prison for punching a police officer in the face during the melee.

Scott Fairlamb, 44, a former MMA fighter and gym owner, is the first defendant charged with assaulting an officer during the attack to face sentencing. The judge, Royce Lamberth, said he expected Fairlamb’s 41-month sentence would end up lower than others also facing charges for assaulting police that day.

That’s because Fairlamb was the first to plead guilty to such an assault and, despite initially celebrating the attack, has since expressed remorse that both prosecutors and Lamberth himself described as “genuine.”

“Had you gone to trial, I don’t think there’s any jury that could have acquitted you or would have acquitted you,” Lamberth said, citing clear video evidence of the attack. “You couldn’t have beat this.”  Lamberth, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, also said the sentence should serve as a signal to other rioters to take the chance to plead guilty rather than risk getting even more prison time.  “Wise up,” the judge said.

"51-month sentence urged for ‘QAnon Shaman’ Jacob Chansley"

Jacob Chansley — the QAnon adherent who infamously stormed the Senate chamber shirtless and wearing horns on Jan. 6 — should go to prison for 51 months, prosecutors said Tuesday in a late-night sentencing memo carrying their stiffest recommendation yet in any case stemming from the insurrection.

Images of Chansley on the Senate rostrum, where he scrawled a menacing note to Vice President Mike Pence, became iconic in the aftermath of the attack. The so-called “QAnon Shaman” is just the third felony defendant to reach the sentencing phase of his prosecution after pleading guilty to obstructing Congress’ effort to certify the 2020 election.  “Defendant Chansley’s now-famous criminal acts have made him the public face of the Capitol riot,” prosecutors said in the 28-page filing.

“The defendant was among the first 30 rioters to penetrate the U.S. Capitol building,” they continued. “The defendant then stalked the hallowed halls of the building, riling up other members of the mob with his screaming obscenities about our nation’s lawmakers, and flouting the ‘opportunity‘ to rid our government of those he has long considered to be traitors.”

The Justice Department’s sentencing proposal for Chansley — who isn’t accused of assaulting law enforcement or destroying government property — far outstrips prosecutor’s 18-month recommendation for Paul Hodgkins, the only felony defendant serving a prison sentence related to the Jan. 6 attack. A judge ultimately sentenced Hodgkins, who like Chansley made it into the Senate Chamber, to an eight-month jail term.

Some of many prior related posts:

• "Many Capitol rioters unlikely to serve jail time" because some facing only misdemeanor convictions
• Noting the importance of charging policies and practices (and consistency?) as federal rioting charges get resolved from coast-to-coast
• Federal judges expressing some concern about lenient plea deals for some Capitol riot defendants
• Notable accounting of federal prosecutions and sentences responding to riots both before and during January 6
• Recent Jan 6 rioter sentencings showcase different judges with different sentencing perspectives
• Coverage and commentary as 100th guilty plea entered for federal charges in January 6 riots 
• Is longest prison term for Jan 6 rioter, and a possible new benchmark, coming this week?