Jake Angeli, QAnon shaman, asks sentence be tossed based on video shown by Tucker Carlson

Jake Angeli, the Phoenix man who took part in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, shirtless and wearing a furry horned helmet, has asked that his sentence be vacated because of video footage shown two months ago by former Fox News Network host Tucker Carlson.

The Hawaii attorney who filed the motion has asked for donations from the public for a legal defense fund to argue the case.

The motion, filed on Thursday in federal court in Washington D.C., cited footage Carlson showed in March. The footage showed Angeli walking calmly with officers inside the U.S. Capitol. At one point in the footage, as described in the court document, an officer appears to try to open a door as if wanting to allow Angeli to enter.

In the motion, Angeli's attorney argues that Angeli pleaded guilty to a felony without his attorney at the time having seen that footage, which he said was exculpatory.

The motion was filed by William Shipley, a Hawaii attorney who has defended several people facing charges for their actions during the Capitol riot. He has also been a prodigious fundraiser for the January 6 Legal Defense Fund Foundation.

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The motion was previewed on April 19 on a Substack newsletter written by Shipley. Paid subscribers were able to see more of his argument ahead of the filing.

Shipley, in a Twitter post, linking to a donation page said that the costs of the case "are expected to be significant because I do not expect the Government to concede without a fight."

Shipley in a phone interview on Friday said that as a former federal prosecutor he felt he owed something to defendants caught in the system, especially those without means to hire an attorney with his experience.

Shipley said he was fundraising because there was "some sentiment in the public that there's people that deserve competent council."

Fundraising was going well in its initial six months, he said, but had slowed down a bit recently. Shipley said that he hoped taking Angeli's case would boost donations, something he said Angeli has agreed with.

"Jake has committed to helping that happen," Shipley said.

Angeli was sentenced to 41 months in prison in November 2021 after pleading guilty to a single felony count. He is serving the last weeks of his sentence in a Phoenix halfway house.

Angeli became an icon of the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol thanks to his eye-catching getup: shirtless, showing off elaborate shamanistic tattoos, painted face and a horned hat with fur tails that lined his face.

Angeli wore the same outfit during protests in Phoenix, also carrying a sign that said, "Q Sent Me." He preached fealty to the false QAnon conspiracy that imagined a top-level government agent with Q-level security clearance was posting cryptic messages on an online bulletin board. The theory coalesced around a narrative that former President Donald Trump was set to dismantle a global cabal of leaders who had committed crimes against children, including ingesting their blood.

After the nation saw Angeli at the Capitol, he was dubbed the QAnon Shaman and became fodder for late-night comedy shows.

He also played a starring role in the March 6 episode of "Tucker Carlson Tonight," during which Carlson showed what he described as never-before-seen footage given to him by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

As Carlson showed footage of Angeli being near officers, he asked why, if Angeli was committing "such a grave crime, why didn't the officers who were standing next to him place him under arrest?"

Carlson showed the footage on his show to make an argument that the breach of the Capitol was overblown, with most of the Trump supporters who broke through security to enter acting peacefully.

The chief of the Capitol Police called Carlson's use of the footage "offensive and misleading." U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said it was a "mistake" for the network to depict the storming of the Capitol the way it did.

Carlson parted ways with the network earlier this week.

Why did Tucker Carlson leave? Everything to know about the ex-Fox News host

Prosecutors did not accuse Angeli of any act of violence or property damage during his time in the U.S. Capitol. But, prosecutors said he played a key role in goading the crowd through shouts blasted through his megaphone.

Angeli also refused an officer's order to leave the U.S. Senate chamber, briefly taking the dais and leaving a note for then-Vice President Mike Pence. The note said: "It's only a matter of time. Justice is coming!"

At his sentencing, Angeli took responsibility for his actions, saying the time in near solitary confinement, brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, left him a lot of time for soul searching. "I'm a good man who broke the law," he told the judge.

Angeli, who was charged under his legal name Jacob Chansley, had appealed his conviction in February 2022, but withdrew it voluntarily in June 2022. That motion was filed by another attorney for Angeli, John Pierce of Woodland Hills, California.

As of late Friday, the online fundraising campaign hosted by GiveSendGo had raised just over $2,200. It's goal was listed as $250,000.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Jake Angeli, the QAnon shaman, asks for his conviction to be tossed