[ad_1]
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A man from Des Moines, Iowa, pictured prominently in a QAnon shirt in front of an insurgent crowd inside the United States Capitol during the Jan.6 attack asked on Monday to a judge to release him from prison, stating “he feels cheated, admitting that he has joined a bunch of lies.
Douglas Jensen, in a document filed by his attorney, said he believed he was a true patriot for visiting Washington at the behest of President Donald Trump. He said his intention was only to observe.
Jensen claims that he is the victim of many conspiracy theories which were transmitted to him on the internet by a number of very intelligent people, who were particularly blessed with low or no moral or social conscience.
Jensen’s attorney, Christopher Davis, said in the document that Jensen was not part of any crowd and simply went to Washington to watch. Davis admitted that Jensen was in front of a crowd, but argued that he had done so for the now-disclosed silly reason for showing his QAnon shirt to be recognized.
Davis said Jensen did not threaten to hurt anyone or destroy property. Jensen had his working pocket knife with him for protection when he walked to the Trump rally before the march to Capitol Hill, Davis said in the court file.
Videos and photographs of Jensen were widely circulated, showing him wearing a QAnon shirt as he pursued Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman as a crowd followed them up the stairs inside the Capitol.
Davis said Jensen had been in custody since he surrendered on January 9, languishing in a DC Jail cell, locked up most of the time he felt cheated, acknowledging he had adhered to a bundle of lies .
Jensen is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in Washington on Tuesday.
In February, federal prosecutors escalated the charges against him to include entering a restricted building with a dangerous weapon and disorderly or disruptive driving in a restricted building with a dangerous weapon. Other counts include civil unrest, obstructing formal proceedings, assault or obstructing officers, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parade, protest or picketing in a Capitol building.
The story continues
Obstructing formal proceedings is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Jensen, 41, was arrested and jailed in Des Moines two days after returning from Washington and has seen footage of himself in television coverage. He was ordered by a judge to be transferred from Iowa to Washington to be held on charges.
Court records suggest Jensen may be working on a plea deal with federal prosecutors.
The court document describes Jensen as the product of a dysfunctional childhood and says he does not fully understand the reasons he was drawn into the QAnon plot. He speculates that he might have been swayed by a midlife crisis, the pandemic, or maybe the post just seemed to elevate him from his ordinary life to exalted status with honorable purpose.
His love and concern for his family was a wake-up call that ended his victimization, Davis said in the court file.
He called for Jensen’s release to get his house in order. He said Jensen’s wife was ready to drive him home in Des Moines, where he would remain under house arrest.
[ad_2]
picture credit