Lawyer charged that newly released video, hidden for years by Dems, was exculpatory
By Bob Unruh, 3-30-23, WND News Center
Security video of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, shows Jacob Chansley, 35, the “QAnon Shaman,” being escorted into the Senate that day by security officers in the building.
Now, after his lawyer charged that the government deliberately had withheld exculpatory information about his client, Chansley has been released from a federal prison and moved to a halfway house.
The Daily Mail reported that lawyer Albert S. Watkins, representing Chansley, told the publication that Chansley had been moved from prison to a halfway house.
Watkins said, “After serving 11 months in solitary prior to his sentence being imposed, and only 16 months of his sentence thereafter, it is appropriate this gentle and intelligent young man be permitted to move forward with the next stage of what undoubtedly will be a law abiding and enriching life.”
Chansley was a key part of many of the videos of the Jan. 6 events at the Capitol, when hundreds protested what they saw as an unfair – even stolen – election, with his costume of helmet and such.
He pleaded guilty in September 2021 to civil disorder and violent entry and was given 41 months in prison.
The report explained, “Bureau of Prison records confirmed that Chansley is in the custody of the Residential Reentry Management field office in Phoenix, with a release date set for May 25.”
Watkins decline to attribute a reason for the decision.
“This was a decision of the US Bureau of Prisons,” he said.
The report pointed out federal guidelines allow for reduced time for good behavior, “but under those guidelines Chansley would have expected to serve at least 35 months and 22 days of his 41-month sentence.”
Watkins had argued only weeks ago that Chansley should be freed based on video publicized by Fox News host Tucker Carlson that showed him not breaking into the Senate, but actually being escorted there by security officers in the Capitol.