WASHINGTON – A Hollywood actor with supporting roles in “Anchorman,” “Mr. Show,” “Arrested Development” and “Bob’s Burgers” was sentenced Monday to 12 months and one day in federal prison. Attack on the US Capitol on January 6– said his lawyer.
It was Jay Johnston He was arrested in June 2023 and He pleaded guilty in July Obstructing officers during a civil disturbance is a felony. Johnston had long been identified as a participant in the mayhem even before his arrest, and some professional consequences—including no longer appearing as the voice of Bob’s Burgers—were hit long before the legal ramifications.
There were federal prosecutors searched for For Johnston, 18 months in federal prison filled their sentencing memo with a photo of Johnston dressed as Jacob Chansley, known as the “QAnon Shaman,” at a Halloween party he attended two years after the attack.
On Jan. 6, 2021, Johnston spent about 10 minutes in the lower west tunnel leading to the Capitol, where the worst violence of the attack took place, prosecutors said. “During that time, he: (1) helped at least four other rioters wash their eyes after being sprayed with OC spray; (2) used a stolen United States Capitol Police riot shield to build a ‘shield wall’ against police inside the tunnel and (3 ) was involved in a “heave-ho” push that pinned crushed MPD officer Daniel Hodges against the door frame,” federal prosecutors wrote.
Despite his “clear knowledge of and involvement in the violence used by the rioters that day,” federal prosecutors wrote, Johnston “sent messages to friends and family in the days following January 6 alleging that the events at the U.S. Capitol had been exaggerated by the media, and that it was a ‘ installation’ said.
Johnston’s attorney, Stanley Woodward he wrote In the sentencing letter, the government “stubbornly exaggerated” Johnston’s role in the attack and “because he is a famous Hollywood actor and the government used his status to influence the public.”
Johnston has enjoyed great success as an actor, writer and producer in Hollywood, including as the voice actor of Jimmy Pesto, Sr. on the animated series Bob’s Burgers and as Officer Taylor on Arrested Development,” Woodward wrote. But Johnston “failed to make a living as an actor after attending the Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
Johnston “has been largely blacklisted from Hollywood” and has “worked as a handyman for the past two years – clearly far removed from his actual experience and livelihood in film and television,” Woodward wrote.
Prosecutors said Johnston texted an acquaintance before the attack, “Bring food and toilet,” calling it a “castle affair” on Jan. 6.
When asked if he would go to a “rally” later, Johnston wrote, “He’s going to rally, he’s really going to rally.”
Johnston attended another rally attended by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and others the night before the Capitol attack, and then filmed himself walking past “CLOSED AREA” signs on Jan. 6, prosecutors wrote.
Johnston’s video confirms that he heard distant rumblings and noted the presence of police at the Capitol before using an overturned metal bike rack to climb over a stone wall. He later filmed protesters pushing a metal “Trump” billboard toward a police line, commented to others that the police had taken over the protesters, and then videotaped “rioters pushing bike racks against the police, fighting with the police, trying to break the police line.” .
As he headed into the lower west tunnel, Johnston wielded a stolen police shield and then “engaged in a team push effort called a ‘heave-ho’ against police in the tunnel,” when Officer Hodges was crushed, prosecutors said. between the frame of one of the doors in the tunnel and the crowd.’
Johnston “joked as the rioters attacked the police,” prosecutors said, including, “Okay! We’re going to fix those light bulbs!” rioters “pushing orange ladder at police in tunnel”.
More than 1,500 people have been arrested in connection with the Capitol attack, and federal prosecutors have so far secured the convictions of more than 1,100 defendants. More than 600 of those convicted of seditious conspiracy have been sentenced to terms ranging from a few days behind bars to 22 years in federal prison for the leader of the Proud Boys.
Additional arrests happened last weekincluding multiple rioters accused of assaulting officers during the attack.