A Georgia business owner, Jack Wade Whitton, was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for his role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Whitton attacked police officers during the riot, striking one with a crutch and dragging him into the mob of rioters. Prosecutors say he also tried to pull a second officer into the crowd, kicked at, threatened, and threw objects at officers. Whitton expressed remorse for his actions before being sentenced to four years and nine months in prison.
Whitton, who pleaded guilty to an assault charge, told the judge that he has never been a political person and has always been a law-abiding citizen. Prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of over eight years for Whitton, citing his repeated assaults on police officers during the insurrection. Videos of Whitton’s attacks on police were described as “gruesome” by the judge, who told Whitton that he was out of control during the riot.
Prosecutors stated that Whitton’s and his co-defendant’s attacks on police officers during the riot ignited further violence on the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol. Other rioters joined in the assault, throwing objects and using makeshift weapons to attack officers. Whitton was among nine defendants charged in connection with the attack, and two of his co-defendants assisted in dragging an officer into the crowd before others beat the officer with a flagpole and a stolen police baton.
Whitton’s defense attorney argued that his motives for being in Washington on January 6 were not politically driven, but rather to support his girlfriend who wanted to witness the historic event. However, Whitton’s actions during the riot led to his arrest and subsequent guilty plea for assault. The judge previously sentenced seven of Whitton’s co-defendants to prison terms ranging from two years and six months to five years and 10 months in connection with the same attack on police officers at the Capitol.
Over 1,350 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot, with more than 850 of them already sentenced to terms ranging from a few days to 22 years in prison. On the same day as Whitton’s sentencing, a case was unsealed against a Virginia man who was charged with attacking police officers and an Associated Press photographer during the riot. David A. Marshall Jr., 57, of Alexandria, was arrested on assault charges for his role in the violence at the Capitol.
