InfoWars host gets 60 days in prison over Jan. 6 charges
InfoWars host Owen Shroyer was sentenced Tuesday to 60 days in prison for his actions that the government claimed “helped create January 6,” The Associated Press reported.
Shroyer did not enter the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but he led protestors in chants and encouraged them to march to the Capitol building.
“The Democrats are posing as communists, but we know what they really are: They’re just tyrants, they’re tyrants,” Shroyer said into a megaphone before leading protestors to march to the Capitol, according to the government’s sentencing memo. “And so today, on January 6, we declare death to tyranny! Death to tyrants!”
Prosecutors noted that Shroyer praised the actions of the rioters following the attack.
Prosecutors, who initially asked for 120 days behind bars, also justified their request for the sentence by claiming Shroyer “spread election disinformation paired with violent rhetoric to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of viewers,” through his online streaming show, “The War Room,” hosted on the InfoWars platform.
They also argued that the sentence was appropriate because Shroyer had an active order to stay away from the Capitol as of Jan. 6, 2021, for a pending case of disorderly conduct.
He is one of few defendants to be sentenced for his actions related to the Jan. 6 insurrection without entering the Capitol building. He pleaded guilty in June to one count of illegally entering a restricted area.
Shroyer’s defense team argued that the case had been “characterized by a cooperative spirit between the defense and the Government,” noting that Shroyer had let prosecutors inspect his cell phones without a warrant and spoke to prosecutors about his messages.
His defense team also argued that Shroyer believed then-President Trump when he said the election was stolen, though his team added that “Mr. Shroyer claims no justification for his conduct simply because he believed the president.”
“But when Mr. Shroyer appeared at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, he wore two hats: one was that of outraged citizen who believed that an election had been rigged, the other as full-time journalist and commentator who sought a front-row seat at an historic event,” the defense wrote.
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