{"id":125871,"date":"2024-01-14T15:36:26","date_gmt":"2024-01-14T15:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/01\/14\/army-veteran-gets-over-four-years-in-prison-for-capitol-riot-role\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:11:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:11:20","slug":"army-veteran-gets-over-four-years-in-prison-for-capitol-riot-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/extremism-disinformation\/2024\/01\/14\/army-veteran-gets-over-four-years-in-prison-for-capitol-riot-role\/","title":{"rendered":"Army veteran gets over four years in prison for Capitol riot role"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A jailed member of the Proud Boys extremist group was sentenced on Friday to more than four years in prison for his role in a mob\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/capitol-siege\" target=\"_blank\">attack on the U.S. Capitol<\/a>&nbsp;three years ago, court records show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">William Chrestman, a U.S. Army veteran from Olathe, Kansas, brandished an axe handle and threated police with violence after leading other Proud Boys members to the perimeter of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chrestman&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/william-chrestman-guilty-proud-boys-capitol-riot-8f1f528b40bf41dcf9e945a270bdfcac\" target=\"_blank\">pleaded guilty in October<\/a>&nbsp;to obstructing the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress for certifying the Electoral College vote. He also pleaded guilty to a second felony count of threatening to assault a federal officer during the Capitol riot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly sentenced Chrestman to four years and seven months in prison, according to court records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of five years and three months, arguing that he \u201cplayed a significant role during the riot due to his presence and conduct at pivotal moments during the day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIndeed, Chrestman regularly presented himself as a leader among the rioters including when he was part of the tip of the spear that created the breach at the Peace Circle, encouraged other rioters to move to the police barricades, told rioters to stop the arrest of a rioter, and thanked them for supporting the Proud Boys,\u201d&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.228125\/gov.uscourts.dcd.228125.232.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">prosecutors wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chrestman has been jailed since his arrest in February 2021. He\u2019ll get credit for the nearly three years he already has served in custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Defense attorney Michael Cronkright argued that Chrestman never used his axe handle \u201cto do anything remotely violent\u201d on Jan. 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTo date, the worst thing that the government has asserted is that he used it to touch a security gate that was already going up,\u201d&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.228130\/gov.uscourts.dcd.228130.233.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Cronkright wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chrestman also had a gas mask, a helmet and other tactical gear when he traveled to Washington with other Proud Boys members from the Kansas City, Kansas, area. On Jan. 6, he marched to the Capitol grounds with dozens of other Proud Boys leaders, members and associates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chrestman and other Proud Boys moved past a toppled metal barricade and joined other rioters in front of another police barrier. He shouted a threat at officers and yelled at others in the crowd to stop police from arresting another rioter, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Facing the crowd, Chrestman shouted, \u201cWhose house is this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur house!\u201d the crowd replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cDo you want your house back?\u201d Chrestman asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYes!\u201d the crowd responded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTake it!\u201d Chrestman yelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chrestman also pointed his finger at a line of Capitol police officers, gestured at them with his axe handle and threatened to assault them if they fired \u201cpepper ball\u201d rounds at the crowd of rioters,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.228125\/gov.uscourts.dcd.228125.202.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">according to a court filing accompanying his guilty plea<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also on Friday, a man who briefly ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor of Oregon after storming the Capitol was sentenced to nearly four years in prison. Reed Knox Christensen, 65, charged at a group of police officers outside the Capitol and assaulted five of them before rioters breached the police line,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.233160\/gov.uscourts.dcd.233160.89.0_1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">prosecutors said.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Christensen captured less than 1% of the votes cast in Oregon\u2019s May 2022&nbsp;Republican primary&nbsp;for the governor\u2019s race. Prosecutors said he used the campaign \u201cto obtain free publicity and brag about his participation in the riot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Christensen also wrote a self-published book about his \u201cexperiences prior to and including January 6,\u201d&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.233160\/gov.uscourts.dcd.233160.92.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">according to his attorney<\/a>, Troy Nixon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth sentenced Christensen, an engineer from Hillsboro, Oregon, to three years and 10 months in prison, court records show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More than 1,200 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. About 900 of them have pleaded guilty or been convicted after trials decided by a jury or judge. Over 750 of them have been sentenced, with nearly 500 receiving some term of imprisonment, according to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/interactives.ap.org\/jan-6-prosecutions\/\" target=\"_blank\">data compiled by The Associated Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dozens of Proud Boys leaders, members and associates have been arrested on Jan. 6 charges. The group\u2019s former national chairman, Enrique Tarrio, was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/extremism-disinformation\/2023\/09\/05\/ex-proud-boys-leader-enrique-tarrio-gets-22-years-in-prison-for-jan-6\/\" target=\"_blank\">sentenced to 22 years in prison<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 the longest for a Capitol riot case so far. A jury convicted Tarrio and three lieutenants of seditious conspiracy charges for a failed plot to keep Donald Trump in power after the Republican lost the 2020 election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Army veteran William Chrestman pleaded guilty in October to obstructing the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress for certifying the Electoral College vote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":108036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":159,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"5":{"categories":["veterans","newsletters","daily-news-roundup","news"],"primary_category":"veterans"}}},"categories":[28,159,10,15,25],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3129],"class_list":["post-125871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-disaster","category-extremism-disinformation","category-flashpoints","category-news","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"7AIS5ETEDRGWHBE2FWV6CVQNG4","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/extremism-disinformation\/2024\/01\/14\/army-veteran-gets-over-four-years-in-prison-for-capitol-riot-role\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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