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Right: Convicted of assault, Jan. 6 rioter Jason Farris is circled in yellow in an exhibit from the Justice Department. Inset right: Jason Farris, as identified in Capitol riot footage by federal prosecutors. (Images via FBI court filings.)
Texan Jason Farris shoved police violently to the ground on Jan. 6 and helped the mob remove a barricade that led to another cop being knocked unconscious once struck in the head by a wooden beam soaring through the air. For his role in the riot and assault, Farris was sentenced to 18 months in prison this month.
But it won’t stop him from seeing his son graduate this summer.
Farris, 45, was sentenced to by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Feb. 23. He pleaded guilty last October to a single charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers at the Capitol. He was also sentenced to 24 months supervised release and was fined $2,000. Though he faced other charges including obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder — which carried a potential five-year sentence — he struck a plea agreement for the assault charge in March 2023.
When he was sentenced last week, according to a paperless minute entry for proceedings, Jackson granted a prosecutor’s request to dismiss the remaining handful of disorderly conduct and trespassing misdemeanor charges. Farris was ordered to self-surrender and be released on his own recognizance.
The judge also agreed, according to a separate minute entry on the federal docket in Washington, D.C., to fit him with an ankle bracelet and “subject [him] to stand-alone locating monitoring” while he is authorized to travel this June from his home in California “to attend his sons high school graduation scheduled for June 6, 2024, provided that defendant provides Pretrial Services with his precise itinerary, including all transportation and lodging information, one week before the date of his travel.”
“Defendant must contact Pretrial Services within one business day of his return. All other conditions of release remain the same,” the Barack Obama-appointed judge ordered.
In his own sentencing memorandum to the court seeking leniency, Farris expressed remorse for his actions at the Capitol and attached letters of support from his family members.
Beyond assault, his actions at the Capitol included his taunting of police and screaming at them about how they should be ashamed of themselves.
“I bet your family is proud of you, f—— f—– ass,” he allegedly said to an officer, invoking an anti-gay slur.
Farris’ aunt, however, said when she spent the Christmas holiday with Farris, her own husband and their children, her nephew had turned over a new leaf.
“Jason did talk about the incident that took place on January 6th, and he repeatedly expressed his disappointment in himself about his involvement and expressed how sorry he was for the embarrassment it has caused the family,” she wrote. “Jason also expressed remorse for getting involved and wished he had never gone to the Capitol. Jason is aware he will be getting some time in prison for his involvement and while serving his time has expressed that he plans on doing a lot of self-reflection, self-improvement and looking into ways to
better himself for when he is released. Jason’s employer in Texas will be holding his position for him when he is released from Prison. There is nothing Jason could do that could make me love him less.”
Prosecutors said Farris came all the way from Dallas, Texas, to Washington, D.C., to attend Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally at the Ellipse. He went from Trump’s speech to the Capitol, marching on the lower west plaza where he joined a crowd of rioters who were confronting police.
In a statement after sentencing, the Justice Department said Farris had approached officers and yelled: “You ain’t s—. Ain’t none of you s—,” while he hit a baton held by an officer.
Rioters grabbing metal bike racks being used by police to stem the tide were turned against them and it was Farris who walked up behind one officer and shoved him with both hands, knocking him to the ground.
The officer regained their footing momentarily before a large wooden beam came soaring through the air. It had been thrown by a rioter toward him in the seconds after Farris had tangled with police over the barriers.
Third-party video showing police being hit by the wooden beam less than fifteen seconds after he was shoved to the ground by Farris, according to Justice Department court records.
Metropolitan Police Department body camera footage shows Jason Farris, circled in yellow, moments after pushing officer to ground at Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.) Courtesy U.S. Department of Justice.)
“The impact of the object knocked the officer to the ground and caused them to lose consciousness briefly. Two days later, the officer was diagnosed with a concussion,” the department said.
In their own sentencing memorandum, federal prosecutors urged the court to sentence Farris to 27 months. When he assaulted police on Jan. 6, they wrote, he also “ascended the stairs to the Upper West Terrace of the Capitol … climbed onto a mechanical window-washing machine attached to the front of the Capitol building and, with two other rioters, operated it so that it rose up several stories on the face of the Capitol building.”
Left: Third-party video footage of Jason Farris using a flagpole to hit a window of the Capitol building provided by Justice Department. Right: Metropolitan Police Department body-worn camera video showing Farris using a slur to insult police officers. (U.S. Dept. of Justice trial exhibits.)
“As the crowd below cheered, Farris used the end of a flagpole to strike a glass window of the Capitol. After he came down, Farris illegally entered the Capitol building, where he remained for a short period of time. He exited only after he saw police officers with guns,” they wrote.
An attorney for Farris did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
