Josiah Kenyon, 35, of Winnemucca, Nevada, likely will be in his 40s when he gets out of prison, as he’s looking at 76 to 97 months for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection (see story here).
Kenyon (mugshot below), who claims to have an IQ above zero (I’ll discuss this further below), has a resume that reads more or less like this:
“During the rioting, Kenyon and others damaged an exterior window of the building. He first attempted to break the window with a closed fist, followed by several attempts with a flag staff. Later, he used several objects, including what appeared to be a table leg with a protruding nail, to assault law enforcement officers who were attempting to protect the building. Additionally, according to the documents, he threw an unknown object and what appears to be a large, hard plastic pylon towards officers.”
After the riot, he went into hiding the way any committed survivalist would, by stashing his wife and two kids in a tiny unheated trailer in the Nevada scrub hills.
When local sheriff’s deputies were conducting a welfare check on them, he drove up in a “camouflaged and modified” car, arousing their suspicion enough to run its license and find out he was wanted by the feds (see story here).
So sure, if you don’t want to attract attention to yourself, doll up your car like this. Maybe they won’t notice it’s there.
Then, while sitting behind bars while awaiting disposition of his case, Kenyon went to court seeking a judge’s permission to “defend himself” against prison guards. As in fight the guards. Parenthetically, a pro-rioter website calling itself “American Gulag” gives its version (here) of the riot as follows:
“He is accused of throwing objects such as a table leg at police in the Lower West Terrace, where there was known violence against Trump supporters. It is believed that many of the individuals there at the time were acting in self-defense.”
This may be helpful to your understanding of where these people are coming from.
Anyway, when Kenyon made his pitch to the judge about beating up prison guards like he did to the police guarding the Capitol and lawmakers inside, he addressed her as follows. First, when he asked for permission to speak, and the judge suggested he speak with his attorney first, he replied, “I have a high enough IQ range to not screw up there, boss.” (Practice tip: That’s not the best way to start a hearing where you’re asking a judge for something.)
Then, “Kenyon said he wanted Judge Nichols to acknowledge that he had a right to defend himself if prison guards in DC tried to assault him. ‘I’m not making any finding one way or another about that,’ Nichols said. ‘Okey-dokey,’ Kenyon replied.” The hearing concluded when Judge Nichols asked if Kenyon had any other issues to raise and he replied, “My wife and children [are] homeless on the street. Have a wonderful day.” (Practice tip: That’s not the best way to end a hearing, even if the judge didn’t give you what you were asking for.) See story here.
Judges generally follow sentencing guidelines, but have considerable discretion over setting a sentence within the range (in this case, 76 to 97 months).
And judges aren’t immune from thinking, “This person is too stupid to be on the streets.” Smarter Capitol riot defendants, after coaching by their lawyers, have gushed remorse at their sentencings.
This dumber-than-rocks (photo at right) defendant isn’t in that category. I’m guessing Kenyon may have talked himself into an extra 12 – 18 months behind bars. We’ll have to wait for his sentencing and see what the judge does with him.