Capitol rioter Douglas Jensen, a construction worker from Des Moines, Iowa, spent over 2 years in jail awaiting trial before being convicted by a jury on September 23, 2022 (see story here). He was sentenced on December 16, 2022 (story here).
His lawyer told the judge, “He wants to return to his normal life, raise his children, and be with his wife.” He won’t get to. He’s going to do five years behind bars, then three years of supervised release. It’s a sacrifice he and his family will make to save our democracy.
CNN described him as “the rioter at the front of a mob that chased US Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up flights of stairs near the Senate chamber on January 6, 2021” (photo at left). Jensen (photo below) has never expressed remorse. This moron showed up for sentencing wearing a QAnon t-shirt in court.
The judge was not amused. In passing sentence, he said, “We cannot, as a country, have what happened on January 6, 2021, ever happen again.”
Putting people like Jensen in prison is vital to preserving the rule of law. The judge clearly intended Jensen’s sentence to be a deterrent.
And the judge is right. Others like Jensen need to be deterred in the future if we are to remain a free country.
