A federal jury convicted a QAnon believer who followed a U.S. Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman on January 6, 2021, finding the defendant guilty on all charges against him.
Doug Jensen, a Minnesota man who was one of the first 10 rioters to enter the Capitol during the insurrection, was found guilty this week of seven counts including felony charges of civil disorder, assaulting, resisting or impeding officers.
There is a scheduled date for sentencing on December 16. April Jensen's wife, April, cried as the verdicts were read.
Jensen was in pretrial custody since last year. He had been released in a high-intensity pretrial program, but a judge ordered him arrested again after he violated the conditions of his release by live-streaming an event hosted by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who has promoted conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
On January 6, Jensen filmed videos from the base of the Capitol building, where he proclaimed with great confidence that he was at the White House. Storm the White House! He said something in a video.
The defense team and the government made their closing arguments Friday before the jury of 10 men and two women began deliberating in the afternoon.
Prosecutors argued that Jensen was the rioter who would not back down in his determination to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Hava Arin Levenson Mirell said he was ready to topple every barrier he encountered that day. He climbed a 20-foot wall to reach the Capitol, inhaled clouds of pepper spray like it was oxygen, and passed through police lines.
Goodman, the USCP officer who testified at Jensen's trial, had no back-up when he faced rioters, Mirell said. Despite being asked to withdraw by authorities, the mob, led by the defendant, didn't withdraw.
Mirell said that was not a game of follow the leader. Jensen was weaponizing the mob. In his closing statement, Jensen's attorney, Christopher Davis, painted his client as a confused man and lone wolf who had fallen for QAnon conspiracy theories. The pandemic did very strange things to people and apparently, Mr. Jensen was one of them, he said.
Davis said it took roughly 24 hours for his client to figure out that he was in the Capitol, not the White House, showing how confused and how jumbled his head is. He argued that his client did not lay a hand on anyone and denied that Jensen took part in some of the chaotic scenes on scaffolding, as prosecutors have alleged.
The defenses were dismissed by the government in their rebuttal. The law does not require physical contact for the assault of an officer charge, and if Jensen was confused, he wouldn't have been able to come so close to Vice President Mike Pence during the riot, prosecutors argued. Assistant U.S. attorney Emily Allen said that it doesn't happen by confusion.
After Friday's verdict, Jensen's lawyer spoke to reporters and said, "In my personal opinion, I think Mr. Jensen had a lot of issues, had a lot of problems back when all this happened. It is sad. Davis described his client as a typical Midwesterner and a blue collar worker. More than 850 people have been arrested and more than 350 people have been convicted in connection with the Capitol attack.
The FBI arrested five people associated with the far-right America First movement this week, and a judge also sentenced a former Army reservist and Adolf Hitler enthusiast who stormed the Capitol for four years in prison.