WASHINGTON — The Justice Department doesn’t want the Jan. 6 defendant known as “QAnon Shaman” to get back a helmet he wore and spear that he held when he stormed the U.S. Capitol in 2021 — at least for now.
Jacob Chansley, who has completed his prison sentence in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, had filed a motion seeking the return of his property back in May. He’s also seeking to modify the terms and conditions of his supervised release due to recent litigation in other Jan. 6 cases that may impact his sentence.
The government wrote in a court filing on Friday that Chansley sought the return “of a spear and a helmet used to project strength during the assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, when Defendant was one of the first persons to occupy the building, and Defendant led chants on the floor of the U.S. Senate.”
But the government said it wants to hold onto that property as evidence in case Chansley challenges his sentence further.
The government wrote it wasn’t sure whether Chansley planned to “file any collateral attack on his conviction” after the Supreme Court recently sided in part with another Jan. 6 defendant who challenged an “obstruction of an official proceeding charge” that has been brought against hundreds of charged Capitol rioters, including Chansley. The Supreme Court’s ruling only had an immediate impact on a few dozen of the more than 1,400 cases brought forward in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, but the full impact will play out in federal district and appellate courts as judges interpret the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Chansley pleaded guilty in September 2021 and U.S. District Judge Royce Lambert sentenced him to more than three years in prison in November 2021. The government pointed out that Chansley took responsibility for his actions — “no ifs, ands, or buts about it” — during his sentencing hearing.
“I am truly, truly repentant for my actions, because repentance is not just saying you’re sorry,” Chansley said at the time. “Repentance is apologizing and then moving in the exact opposite direction of the sin that you committed. And that’s what I’ve been trying to do ever since I realized the magnitude of my error and the magnitude of my mistake.”
Chansley filed to get his property back before the Supreme Court’s Jan. 6 ruling. He had also filed a petition to vacate his sentence. Federal prosecutors wrote that they “would like to ensure finality in the appellate process in this and other cases” and that their “request to continue to hold the property as evidence until such finality in the criminal prosecution is assured is thus appropriate.”
The government also said that it “has a right to evaluate whether, under civil forfeiture procedure, such property should be forfeited to the United States,” but wrote that if Chansley “assures the Court that there will be no further challenges to his criminal conviction, the government requests an additional 30 days to evaluate the possibility of pursuing civil forfeiture.”
Chansley and his attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
