Jan. 6 mob ‘ringleader,’ QAnon follower sentenced in Capitol attack
A follower of the QAnon conspiracy theory movement who led members of the pro-Trump mob that chased Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman during the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Friday to five years in prison following his conviction of multiple felony and misdemeanor offenses for his actions during the riot.
Doug Jensen, 43, became one of the more recognizable figures in early pictures that emerged from the Capitol assault and was one of the first rioters to breach the building after scaling a 20-foot wall on the West Front of the complex.
Prosecutors had sought 64 months for Jensen, describing him as a leader who “was trying to fire up a revolution” that day.
Judge Tim Kelly went slightly below their recommendation in sentencing Jensen to 60 months, expressing concern at Jensen’s failure to express any remorse for his actions, including in a short statement he delivered just prior to the sentence being handed down. Jensen made no apology and said he just wanted to move forward and get back to his old life.
Kelly credited Goodman’s heroism as he detailed the rationale behind the sentence, noting if he hadn’t been able to divert the mob away from the U.S. Senate the consequences could have been dire.
“It is a miracle that more people were not injured and did not lose their lives that day,” Kelly said.
In their sentencing memo, prosecutors described Jensen as a “ringleader” during the attack who later expressed pride in becoming a “poster boy” of Jan. 6.
Smoke fills the walkway outside the Senate Chamber as supporters of President Donald Trump, including Douglas Jensen, center, are confronted by U.S. Capitol Police officers, Jan. 6, 2021, inside the Capitol in Washington. The Iowa man was “weaponizing” rioters who joined him in chasing a police officer up a staircase during one of the most harrowing scenes from a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol, a prosecutor told jurors on Sept. 23, 2022, at the close of his trial.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP, FILE
A jury convicted Jensen in September of five felony offenses including assaulting a law enforcement officer and obstructing an official proceeding, after a trial which featured testimony from Officer Goodman himself.
Goodman described the harrowing moment he was chased by Jensen and other rioters up a stairwell inside the Capitol where he managed to divert them away from the Senate Chamber and into the Ohio Clock Corridor where other officers joined him to provide backup.
In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo, Trump supporters, including Doug Jensen, center, confront U.S. Capitol Police in the hallway outside of the Senate chamber at the Capitol in Washington.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP, FILE
Capitol Police Inspector Thomas Lloyd said in a new letter to Judge Kelly this week that the quick thinking by Goodman likely prevented a shootout inside the Capitol to prevent rioters from reaching Senators who were at the time sheltering in place.
“Thankfully, the Defendant was able to walk out of the Capitol Building on January 6. He can thank Officer Goodman,” Lloyd said. “If Officer Goodman had not led the Defendant and the rest of the mob away from the Senate Lobby and an attempt was made to breach those doors, there would have been tremendous bloodshed.”
Even after Goodman was joined by his fellow officers, Jensen continued to confront them — demanding they “back up” and arrest Vice President Mike Pence. Prosecutors later revealed he had been carrying a knife in his pocket with a three-inch blade.
After the riot, when Jensen was first interviewed by the FBI, he was asked by agents if he regretted his actions and told them “it would have been worth it” if former President Trump was able to stay in power as a result of the attack, prosecutors say.
And while his attorneys said leading up to his trial that he was reformed and no longer believed in the QAnon conspiracy theory movement, he was later caught using an unauthorized cell phone to stream Mike Lindell’s so-called “Cyber Symposium” that propagated more conspiracy theories about the 2020 election being stolen.
