(ConservativeSense.com) – The so-called QAnon Shaman Jacob Chansley has been released from prison. Chansley was sentenced to almost four years for his role in the events of January 6th, 2021. He has served 27 months.
He was transferred from FCI Stafford federal prison in late March and taken to a community confinement facility near Phoenix, Arizona. A Bureau of Prisons (BOP) spokesman did not provide details on the release but said it is standard practice for well-behaved prisoners to be released early and to spend the late part of their sentence in a halfway house.
Mr. Chansley became a public symbol of the riots on Capitol Hill thanks to the horned fur headgear he wore on the day. He was jailed when he pleaded guilty to obstruction of an official proceeding. At the time, Chansley said, “Men of honor admit when they’re wrong. I was wrong for entering the Capitol. I had no excuse.” He added, “I am not an insurrectionist, I’m certainly not a domestic terrorist.”
His jailing became a source of controversy more recently when video footage emerged of Chansley walking peacefully through Capitol buildings accompanied by law enforcement officers. His lawyer told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that he had been given no access to the video footage and that it would have amounted to exculpatory evidence.
He said the Justice Department had acted unlawfully in holding back the film. It only came to light after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy provided Carlson with almost 42,000 hours of previously unseen footage from inside Congress on January 6th.
Albert Watkins, Chansley’s attorney, told Carlson, “What’s happened is truly a dagger in the heart of our American justice system. We can’t allow it.” He added that the government did not disclose the footage of Chansley peacefully walking through Congress because “it didn’t fit their narrative.”
Officials have denied that the publication of the video footage has any connection to Mr. Chansley’s release.
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