He knew what he was pleading to:
Before he was sentenced, Chansley told U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth it was wrong for him to enter the Capitol and that he accepts responsibility for his actions.
"I have no excuse," Chansley said. "No excuses whatsoever. My behavior is indefensible."
The judge said Chansley's remorse appeared to be genuine but noted the seriousness of his actions in the Capitol. "What you did was terrible," Lamberth said. "You made yourself the center of the riot."
His attorney has said Chansley was "horrendously smitten" by Trump and believed like other rioters that Trump had called him to the Capitol, but later felt betrayed after Trump refused to grant him and others who participated in the insurrection a pardon.
Watkins has said Chansley had been under pressure from family members not to plead guilty because they believed Trump would be reinstated as president and pardon him.
Jacob Chansley, the spear-carrying Jan. 6 rioter whose horned fur hat, bare chest and face paint made him one of the more recognizable figures in the assault on the Capitol, has been sentenced to 41 months in prison.
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