Shawnee Township man sentenced in 2021 Capitol insurgency
Dec. 3—WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Shawnee Township man arrested for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Monday to nearly six years in prison.
Jonathan Copeland, 29, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich to 71 months in prison and 36 months of supervised release. He was ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution.
Copeland was convicted in May following a one-day bench trial of six felony charges, including two counts of civil disorder; one count each of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly and dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly and dangerous weapon; and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or ground with a deadly and dangerous weapon.
He was also convicted of misdemeanors of an act of physical violence in the Capitol building or grounds and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
Copeland had waived his right to a trial by jury.
Prosecutors said Copeland was among the thousands of protesters who illegally entered the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, during a so-called "Stop the Steal" rally intended to halt the certification by the U.S. Congress of the results of the November 2020 election that saw Democrat Joe Biden defeat sitting President Donald Trump.
According to court documents and evidence presented during the trial, Copeland traveled from Ohio to the nation's capital and attended a rally on the night of Jan. 5 and then portions of the rally on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, at the Ellipse.
After the rally, Copeland marched with others to the Peace Circle, located on U.S. Capitol grounds, where he walked around the downed barriers and moved toward the front of a line of rioters behind a bike-rack-style barrier manned on the opposite side by several U.S. Capitol Police officers protecting the U.S. Capitol complex, according to federal prosecutors.
A group of rioters, including Copeland, then pushed through a barricade and overwhelmed police officers. According to court documents Copeland participated in pushing a large metal frame holding an oversized "TRUMP" sign into a defensive line of Metropolitan Police Department and USCP officers who were attempting to prevent a further advance toward the Capitol building. Copeland placed both hands onto the sign and forcefully pushed it into the line of officers.
Federal officials arrested Copeland in August 2022 in Allen County, more than 20 months after the incident.
A statement issued by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said more than 1,561 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 590 people charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
Trump, who will take office in January after reclaiming the White House in the November 2024 general election, vowed during his campaign to pardon some or all of the people charged in connection with the Capitol riot.
He had been mostly silent on the subject since his election victory, leaving the fate of those already sentenced for their roles in the insurgency in doubt.
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