WASHINGTON (CN) — A Texas man who prosecutors say was the first to smash a window at the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and allowed rioters to arm themselves with makeshift weapons with tables and chairs at the site of the worst violence of the riot, was sentenced to 84 months in prison on Friday.
Shane Jenkins, 46, in anticipation of “a war popping off,” brought two tomahawk axes that he used to break the window that allowed rioters to crawl through and begin dismantling the furniture they found inside to use against a line of police officers hunkered down in a tunnel leading into the Capitol.
Jenkins himself threw some of the items, including a wooden desk drawer and a flagpole, at the officers. Other members of the crowd passed out standing lamps, tabletops and the legs of tables of chairs — some of which had metal nails sticking out of the ends — and swung them at members of the United States Capitol Police Department and the Metropolitan Police Department.
In March 2023, a jury convicted him on nine counts for civil disorder: obstructing an official proceeding, assaulting an officer with a dangerous weapon, destruction of government property, entering a restricted building with a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct in a restricted building with a dangerous weapon, engaging in violence in a restricted building with a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct and engaging in violence in the Capitol.
Jenkins, in an extended statement before the court, tried to explain how his troubled upbringing had led him to that point, suffering in an abusive household, dealing drugs and participating in a gang as a teenager and killing his stepfather, who was physically abusing his mother and had tried to shoot him with a shotgun from point-blank range.
He expressed remorse for his actions at the Capitol, saying that he was “caught up in the heat of the moment.”
“I love this country,” Jenkins said. “And I’m not some crazed maniac set out to destroy this nation.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, a Barack Obama appointee, credited Jenkins for the difficulties he had faced and how it seemed that in recent years he had taken a turn for the better, leading a faith-based group while in prison in his 30s and working with local youths in his community — but found it difficult to square that person described by himself and his brother who spoke shortly, with the person at the Capitol.
“Instead of falling back on what you learned, your Christian values, your faith in God, for some reason they left you that day,” Mehta said, before passing down the 7-year sentence.
He was concerned, however, about his actions while incarcerated following his arrest, where Jenkins had seemingly created an online persona for himself, known as “Skullet,” which depicted himself as a skeleton with his characteristic hairstyle known by the same name.
The animated depiction had been used on a number of websites referring to Jan. 6 defendants as “political prisoners” and Jenkins specifically as a “revolutionary war hero,” and featured on merchandise like a backpack that says, “Free the January 6 Political Prisoners.”
Mehta said the use of his animated image to push the idea that he was a political prisoner and capitalize on his role in the riot was “shameful.” He made a special point to reject any assertion that Jan. 6 defendants have been targeted for their political beliefs and statements, rather that they were there because of their actions.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Mehta said. “It’s all on video.”
Justice Department prosecutors had initially sought a hefty sentence of 236 months — or 19 ½ years — for Jenkins, a prison term that would have been the second longest for any Jan. 6 defendant after Enrique Tarrio, leader of the neo-fascist Proud Boys, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison last month. The sentence would have exceeded the term given to Stewart Rhodes, founder of the far-right militia the Oath Keepers, also by Mehta.
David Perri, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, described Jenkins as “a top tier rioter, one of the worst Jan. 6 offenders” whose conduct warranted a so-called terrorism enhancement to his destruction of property conviction, which would have significantly raised his sentence.
Mehta declined to apply the enhancement because Jenkins, unlike Rhode and the Proud Boys who had the enhancement applied, was not a member of a conspiracy and had acted on his own.
“While Mr. Jenkins’s conduct was bad … it’s not the worst,” Mehta said.
In the 33 months since the Capitol riot, the Justice Department has charged over 1,185 people for their actions during the riot and approximately 658 have been sentenced. The investigation remains ongoing, with approximately 304 people who committed violent acts still unidentified.
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