Owen Shroyer, Infowars host, gets 2-month prison term for Jan. 6 breach.
Infowars host Owen Shroyer was sentenced on Sept. 12 to 60 days in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol.
Mr. Shroyer, who hosts a daily show called “The War Room With Owen Shroyer” for the website operated by Alex Jones’s Infowars, did not enter the Capitol Building on Jan. 6.
The 34-year-old Austin, Texas resident did, however, admit to entering a restricted area during the breach. He pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of entering and remaining on restricted grounds in June 2023.
Prosecutors had sought four months behind bars for Mr. Shroyer.
Instead, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, handed down the two-month sentencing following a more than one-hour-long hearing Tuesday in which he accused Mr. Shroyer of “amping up the crowd” during the breach, The Washington Post reported.
Prosecutors said in court documents (pdf) that Mr. Shroyer entered Capitol grounds after 1 p.m. on the day of the breach and led demonstrators in chants of “USA” and “1776” via a megaphone as the crowd marched to the Capitol.
Mr. Shroyer could also be seen on video telling the crowd that had gathered outside the Capitol Building, ”Today we march for the Capitol because on this historic January 6, 2021 we have to let our congressmen and women know, and we have to let [Vice President] Mike Pence know, they stole the election, we know they stole it, and we aren’t going to accept it,” prosecutors said.
‘Violent Rhetoric, Disinformation About the Election’
CCTV footage captured Mr. Shroyer within the restricted area on both the west and east sides of the Capitol, prosecutors said.
In separate court documents (pdf) prospectors also accused Mr. Shroyer of having “stoked the fire of hundreds of thousands of his followers” online and via his show with “violent rhetoric and disinformation about the election leading up to January 6 and during a march he helped lead to the restricted grounds.”
Additionally, they said Mr. Shroyer “praised the actions of the rioters at the Capitol after January 6 on his online streaming show” after the breach.
Prosecutors also noted that Mr. Shroyer had an active order to stay away from the Capitol and its grounds as of Jan. 6, 2021 for a pending case of disorderly conduct on those grounds.
Lawyers for Mr. Shroyer previously argued he was attending the Jan. 6 breach in a journalistic capacity to observe the situation and report on it, stressing that he did not engage in violence or in any attempt to impede or obstruct.
‘No Justification for His Conduct’
Elsewhere, his defense team argued in court filings (pdf) that the case had been “characterized by a cooperative spirit between the defense and the Government,” noting that their client had allowed prosecutors to inspect his cellphones without a warrant, had waived his right to remain silent, and instead spoken to prosecutors.
“After inspecting the contents of his phone, federal investigators questioned Mr. Shroyer about the messages, what he knew about the planning of events leading up to and including January 6, 2021, and his awareness of other participants in illegal activity that day,” his lawyers wrote.
Mr. Shroyer had nothing of value to offer prosecutors in their larger efforts to determine whether the events of January 6, 2021, were part of a larger scheme, or were, rather, as Mr. Shroyer saw it, nothing more than a protest turned into a riot,” they added.
“Mr. Shroyer claims no justification for his conduct simply because he believed the president,” his lawyers continued. “But when Mr. Shroyer appeared at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, he wore two hats: one was that of an outraged citizen who believed that an election had been rigged, the other as full-time journalist and commentator who sought a front-row seat at a historic event.”
However, in his ruling Wednesday, Judge Kelly said Mr. Shroyer “was not merely at the building but he also did play a role in amping up the crowd on the steps that day,” by leading chants through a megaphone.
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