InfoWars host Owen Shroyer sentenced to 60 days in prison in Jan. 6 case
WASHINGTON – A moderator for the far-right media outlet InfoWars was sentenced to 60 days in prison on Tuesday for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Owen Shroyer is one of only a handful of Jan. 6 participants who has been charged with a crime, although he did not enter the Capitol building or be accused of violence or destruction on Capitol grounds. Prosecutors have charged Shroyer because he previously signed a deferred prosecution agreement after adjourning a congressional hearing in 2019 and, as part of that case, agreed not to “utter loud, threatening or offensive language or engage in a disorderly or disruptive manner.” to engage in behavior.” somewhere on the grounds of the United States Capitol.”
About 1,100 defendants have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and more than 600 have been sentenced, including more than 370 to prison terms.
“Democrats pretend to be communists, but we know what they really are: They’re just tyrants, they’re tyrants,” Shroyer said with a megaphone as he led a crowd to the Capitol on Jan. 6. “And so today, January 6th, we declare death to tyranny! Death to the tyrants!”
The government wanted 120 days in prison for Shryoer, saying that while he did not set foot in the Capitol, “many of those who would have listened to him” did. Shryo’s defense team said that the case was “characterized by a cooperative spirit between the defense and the government” and called for him to be spared prison time. When he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, Shroyer “wore two hats: one, he was an outraged citizen who believed an election was rigged, and two, he was a full-time journalist and commentator who wanted a front row seat “Looked for a historic event in an election,” his defense team wrote.
During Tuesday’s court hearing, Shroyer told the court, “I was not part of any larger plan for illegal activity or violence that day.”
Shroyer was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who last week sent Proud Boys founder Enrique Tarrio to federal prison for a record-breaking 22 years.
CORRECTION (September 12, 2023, 10:38 a.m.): An earlier version of this article misstated when Shroyer interrupted a congressional hearing. It was in 2019, not 2020.
