WASHINGTON – Mr. Show, Arrested Development, Bob’s Burgers and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy have pleaded guilty. January 6, 2021, Attack on the US Capitol.
Jay Johnston, wearing a gray suit, was convicted of the felony of obstructing officers during a civil disturbance. “Guilty,” Johnson said when asked by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols how he pleaded guilty. Nichols set a court hearing for Oct. 7 at 10 a.m., asking federal prosecutors to turn over sentencing documents by Sept. 30 and the defense by Oct. 3.
Following his arrest, Johnston was indicted by a federal grand jury on January 6 along with four other defendants; the government alleged that all five were involved in the January 6 fight in the lower west tunnel leading to the Capitol, where the worst of the law enforcement riots took place.
The FBI claimed the video footage showed Johnston “hands over a stolen US Capitol Police shield to other rioters” and Johnston “participated in a group attack with other rioters” on officers guarding the lower west tunnel.
Johnston is listed as 247 on the FBI’s Capitol Violence website, and the bureau posts photos of some of the most wanted rioters from the Capitol attack. An attorney representing Johnston called the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center in March 2021 to identify him, the FBI said. The bureau said it spoke to three of Johnston’s associates, one of whom notified the FBI in a text message confirming he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“The news presented it as an attack. Actually it was not like that. I thought it kind of turned into this,” Johnston wrote in that text message. “It was a mess. I was tear gassed and I found it quite unnatural.
Long before Johnston was charged in connection with the attack, he faced professional backlash: The character he played on Bob’s Burgers, Jimmy Pesto Sr. Johnston was fired from the show due to his involvement in the attack on the Capitol, the Daily Beast. He reported in December 2021.
Earlier in his Hollywood career, Johnston was a regular described Police officers, including “The Sarah Silverman Show” and “Arrested Development.” Johnston also Mr. Show’s “Everest story” sketch, he played a man who repeatedly falls into thimble shelves on the wall after climbing Mount Everest, returning home and trying to tell the story of the climb. Johnston also played a member of Wes Mantooth’s news team epic battle scene In “Anchorman”.
In the more than 3.5 years since the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, the FBI has made more than 1,400 arrests and secured more than 1,000 convictions. Although hundreds of low-level defendants were sentenced to probation on January 6, more than 540 inmates have spent several days behind bars. 22 years in federal prison Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, has been convicted of seditious conspiracy.
The Supreme Court’s final decision on the impeding formal proceedings against hundreds of defendants is expected on January 6. there is a ripple effect in most cases. The government has it less than a year and a half To indict hundreds of January 6 rioters identified by online sleuths (but not arrested by the FBI) before the statute of limitations expires in early 2026.