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Georgia Man Sentenced to Prison for Assaulting Law Enforcement with a Weapon During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach
A Georgia man was sentenced to prison today for assaulting law enforcement officers with a weapon during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.
Jack Wade Whitton, 33, of Locust Grove, Georgia, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras to 57 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution. Whitton pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon on Sept. 13, 2022.
According to court documents, on Jan. 6, 2021, many of the most violent confrontations that day occurred near an entrance to the Capitol building in the area known as the Lower West Terrace. The entrance usually consists of a flight of stairs leading to a doorway; however, on January 6th, the construction of the Inaugural Stage converted the stairway into a 10-foot-wide, slightly sloped, short Tunnel approximately 15 feet long.
At approximately 4:27 p.m., police officers had been defending the Tunnel for nearly two hours, advancing and retreating as they struggled against a crowd of rioters. As some rioters exited the Tunnel and made their way down a set of steps, Whitton worked his way through (and against) the crowd to get closer to the police line.
Whitton then grabbed an officer’s baton and, in his own words, “fed him to the people” by dragging the officer head-first and face-down into the violent, angry mob of rioters, where the officer was beaten. The mob then proceeded to attack the downed officer with objects, including a police baton and flagpole.
Approximately 20 minutes later, at 4:48 p.m., Whitton returned to the Archway. Police officers continued to maintain a line across the Tunnel entrance; many held riot shields. Whitton approached the line of officers, gave them the finger, and kicked at them. Another rioter, who was standing between Whitton and the police line, yelled at him and others to stop.
Whitton was undeterred. He continued to fight the officers, grabbing at them with his hands and kicking at an officer lying on the ground. Whitton also scaled the wall between the Lower West Terrace and the Upper West Terrace of the Capitol building, where bleachers had been set up for the Inauguration and where police officers were attempting to clear rioters. Here, Whitton threw an object at the line of officers, then reached over the balustrade to throw a punch at them.
After the events of January 6, Whitton texted and posted on social media about his conduct at the Capitol that day, expressing pride in his participation in assaults and unconcern for his victims. Whitton also sent images of his bloodied hands, stating, “This is from a bad accident, by the way.”
Key Facts
- State: Washington DC
- Category: Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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