An actor recognized for his roles within the tv comedies Bob’s Burgers and Arrested Improvement was sentenced on Monday to at least one 12 months in jail for his half in a mob’s assault on the US Capitol practically 4 years in the past.
Jay Johnston, 56, of Los Angeles, joined different rioters in a heave-ho push in opposition to law enforcement officials guarding a tunnel entrance to the Capitol throughout the 6 January 2021 riot. Johnston additionally cracked jokes and interacted with different rioters as he used a cellphone to file the violence round him, prosecutors mentioned.
Johnston expressed remorse that he “made it tougher for the police to do their job” on January 6. He mentioned he by no means would have guessed {that a} riot would erupt that day.
The choose, who sentenced Johnston to at least one 12 months and at some point of imprisonment, allowed him to stay free after the listening to and report back to jail at a date to be decided. Nichols mentioned he acknowledges that Johnston will miss out on caring for his 13-year-old autistic daughter whereas he’s behind bars.
“However his conduct on January 6 was fairly problematic. Reprehensible, actually,” the choose mentioned.
Johnston pleaded responsible in July to interfering with law enforcement officials throughout a civil dysfunction, a felony punishable by a most jail sentence of 5 years.
Prosecutors really useful an 18-month jail sentence for Johnston. Their sentencing memo features a {photograph} of a smiling Johnston dressed as Jacob Chansley, the spear-carrying Capitol rioter referred to as the “QAnon Shaman,” at a Halloween social gathering roughly two years after the siege.
“He thinks his participation in some of the critical crimes in opposition to our democracy is a joke,” prosecutors wrote.
Johnston performed pizzeria proprietor Jimmy Pesto Sr in Bob’s Burgers, a police officer in Arrested Improvement and a street-brawling newsman within the film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Johnston additionally appeared on Mr Present with Bob and David, an HBO sketch comedy sequence that starred Bob Odenkirk and David Cross.
Johnston, a Chicago native, moved to Los Angeles in 1993 to pursue an appearing profession. After the riot, Johnston was fired by the creator of Bob’s Burgers, misplaced a job in a film based mostly on the present and has “basically been blacklisted” in Hollywood, mentioned protection legal professional Stanley Woodward.
Greater than 1,500 individuals have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 1,000 rioters have been convicted and sentenced. Roughly 650 of them obtained jail time starting from a number of days to 22 years.
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