Shane Jenkins, 46, acknowledged in D.C. federal court docket that he had an “extensive” legal historical past and apologized “for all the pain and suffering I’ve caused.” But, he added: “I love this country. I’m not some crazed maniac.”

Using a tomahawk he introduced with him from Texas, Jenkins was the primary to smash a window on the West Terrace of the U.S. Capitol, and was caught on video shouting: “We paid for it, it’s our f—ing building.” That breach gave rioters entry to senators’ workplaces, which have been trashed and ransacked.

Those who went inside carried out damaged furnishings that Jenkins and others used to attack police guarding a tunnel. After a quick break to get well from being repeatedly hit with pepper spray, Jenkins returned to the tunnel and threw a wood desk drawer, a flagpole, a steel strolling stick, a damaged wood pole and different objects on the police line. Jenkins was convicted at trial on eight felony costs.

“This was not an Ikea desk,” U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta mentioned in court docket in D.C. “This was solid wooden furniture” that would have precipitated severe injury had it hit a police officer in the pinnacle. But he mentioned Jenkins deserved a decrease sentence than rioters who injured officers in direct assaults.

Defense lawyer Dennis Boyle mentioned in court docket that Jenkins was misled by “perhaps the greatest con man of all time.”

Jenkins, a father of 5, spoke at size in court docket about his troublesome previous, beginning along with his adoption by an abusive father. “I felt like a throwaway, a piece of trash,” Jenkins mentioned. He first went to juvenile detention as a younger teen; his mom married one other abusive man whereas he was incarcerated.

When Jenkins was 20, his stepfather menaced his mom with a gun, and Jenkins killed the person in a shootout. A grand jury didn’t indict him, however he started abusing and promoting medicine and was in and out of jail for the following twenty years, with a number of convictions for assault. While in jail in 2016, he mentioned, he discovered Christianity with the assistance of former president Richard M. Nixon’s “hatchet man” Chuck Colson. Jenkins mentioned he has since gotten clear and devoted himself to outreach for at-risk youths.

“I was not a good ambassador for Christ or a good leader that day,” Jenkins informed the court docket.

Mehta mentioned it was laborious to sq. Jenkins’s professed Christian values or his claims of remorse with the truth that he raised at the very least $118,888 on a conservative crowdfunding web site the place he calls himself a “political prisoner” and created his personal line of riot-themed backpacks and clothes.

(*7*) Mehta mentioned. “It’s hard to know what is in a man’s heart; what I know is what you’ve said, what you’ve done.” Three days after Christmas in 2020, he famous, Jenkins was speaking about making ready for violence in Washington.

Jenkins is featured in a video of Jan. 6 defendants in the D.C. jail singing the anthem that was circulated by Trump allies. Trump recorded a model of that efficiency the place he sings alongside and performed it at his first 2024 marketing campaign rally. Boyle mentioned Jenkins was not a part of that efficiency. But Jenkins expressed ongoing enthusiasm for Trump in a current interview from the jail, saying that if the previous president was incarcerated he needs to be introduced to the “Patriot Pod.”

“We would have a good time, and it would be awesome to get to meet Donald Trump,” he mentioned.

Boyle in contrast Jenkins to a fraud sufferer who nonetheless believes in the rip-off.

“There are politicians out there who fan the flames,” Boyle mentioned. “It’s a reinforcing mechanism.”

Boyle mentioned one other occasion like Jan. 6 was unlikely to happen, however Assistant U.S. Attorney David Perri advised that was naive.

“What if his preferred candidate is convicted of something?” Perri requested. “As an American citizen, I don’t want to take that chance.” Prosecutors had requested for a sentence of over 19 years.

According to the Justice Department, Jenkins additionally joined in a mob attack in the D.C. jail in July towards Taylor Taranto, a fellow Jan. 6 defendant who was arrested the month prior with weapons close to former president Barack Obama’s home. According to the court docket report, Taranto had insulted Ashli Babbitt, who was killed by a Capitol Police officer through the riot whereas attempting to attain the House flooring, and her mom.

Boyle mentioned Jenkins tried to forestall that state of affairs and didn’t participate in the assault in the jail. Prosecutors and a probation officer mentioned in court docket that they weren’t in a position to get extra particulars from the D.C. Department of Corrections; the company didn’t reply to a request for remark.