WASHINGTON (CN) — Two friends from Columbus, Ohio, will go to prison for their role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot — sentences that could become benchmarks for how courts resolve other Capitol riot cases involving nonviolent participants in what proved to be fatal pandemonium.
Derek Jancart and Erik Rau pleaded guilty to one count of disorderly conduct, which can hold up to six months in prison — though prosecutors recommended four, and their defense attorneys argued that probation without prison time was appropriate.
“This sentencing is very difficult. A lot of these sentences will be very difficult,” U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg said during Wednesday’s sentencing hearing. “Any day in jail is unpleasant. 45 days is certainly something. Especially for someone who has never spent time in jail.”
So far, most Capitol rioters who have been sentenced for a misdemeanor offense have avoided jail time altogether. But in the case of Jancart and Rau, who drove to the Capitol with a gas mask, two-way radios, gloves and a medical kit, prosecutors say the men were expecting violence.
Jancart in particular posted a photo of a pickax to Facebook on Jan. 5 with the caption, “Anyone know the laws on pickaxes in D.C.?”
On Jan. 6, as both chambers of Congress convened to certify the results of the 2020 election that would push President Donald Trump out of office after a single term, Jancart and Rau attended Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally, briefly went back to their hotels, and then made their way to the Capitol after hearing it had been breached.
“We made it up to the Capitol," Rau could be heard cheering in a video he recorded at the scene. "We have the police surrounded! We have you surrounded!” They spent about 40 minutes inside the building, at one point making their way to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.
Jancart, an Air Force veteran, would later extensively post on social media about his role in the attempt to overthrow America's government. Downplaying the violence, Jancart claimed that the cops waved him in and boasted that he and Rau were among the first 50-100 people in the Capitol.
"I do apologize for my individual actions that day,” Jancart said at his sentencing hearing. “I did get caught up in the moment. I just followed the crowd and let my curiosity get the best of me. I love this country. ... I feel ashamed of the actions I took that day."
Judge Boasberg noted that the evidence that troubled him was that Jancart and Rau already knew that the Capitol had been breached when they joined in the melee with items indicating that they were expecting violence.
“All of the people charged with offenses related to the Jan. 6 insurrection are serious. You attempted, along with others, to undermine one of our government’s bedrock acts: the peaceful transfer of power,” Boasberg said. “There are few actions as serious as the ones this group took on this day.”
Imposing a 45-day sentence, Boasberg credited the lack of evidence that Jancart engaged in any violence, his taking of an early plea deal and his expression of remorse.
In a separate sentencing hearing for Jancart’s friend, Rau told the judge in an emotional statement how his actions have greatly affected his three small children and wife.
“There is no excuse for my actions on Jan. 6," Rau said. "I 100% know better than to do what I did that day. I am very hopeful for the future … that we can get past this.”
Rau’s defense attorney Michelle Peterson asked that Rau receive probation or weekend prison time, since Rau has a full time job at night, cares for his children during the day while his wife works, and runs a small farm. If he went to prison, Peterson said, it would devastate his family’s farm and his wife’s business, and cause the family to lose their primary source of income.
Boasberg nevertheless said he couldn’t justify giving Rau a different sentence than he gave Jancart.
Later on Wednesday, Troy Smocks of Dallas pleaded guilty to transmitting threats in interstate commerce, a felony with a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Smocks didn’t breach the Capitol building on Jan. 6, but posted on the social-networking website Parler that he and others would return to the Capitol on Jan. 19 with weapons.
“We will come in numbers that no standing army or police agency can match,” Smocks wrote. More than 60,000 people viewed the post on Parler, and an additional 54,000 viewed the post when it was shared on another social media service.
Because of his lengthy criminal history, including multiple instances of impersonating military and government officials, prosecutors are recommending a sentence of 16 months in prison.
Smocks joins 50 other Jan. 6 defendants who are scheduled to be sentenced before the end of 2021.
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