Bob’s Burgers voice actor sentenced to one year and one day for Jan. 6 riots

Actor Jay Johnstonwho voiced a pizzeria owner on the TV show “Bob’s Burgers” and has roles in “Better Call Saul,” “Arrested Development” and the film “Anchorman” was sentenced Monday to a year and a day in prison for interfering with police matters. during the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

In July, Johnston pleaded guilty to federal riot charges for being part of a crowd that pressed officers in the lower West Terrace tunnel at the height of the uprising, including a widely shown incident in which a D.C. police officer Daniel Hodges screamed for help as he was pinned between rioters and a metal-framed door.

Prosecutors had sought an 18-month sentence, citing injuries Hodges suffered at the hands of rioters shouting “heh heh!” as they tried to break through a line of officers protecting the tunnel passage.

Assistant US Attorney Caitlin Klamann wrote in the sentencing report that Johnston was joking as he witnessed and filmed numerous acts of violence by rioters against police. The prosecutor included in the lawsuit a photo of Johnston smiling at a 2023 Halloween party while he was dressed as Jacob Chansleyrioter known as the “QAnon shaman” who stormed the Capitol with a spear and a fur-lined horned headdress.

“He believes his participation in one of the most serious crimes against our democracy is a joke,” Klamann wrote, referring to Johnston.

Defense lawyer Stanley E. Woodward asked for a prison sentence of four to ten months or less, saying prosecutors exaggerated Johnston’s actions because of his notoriety to make a point. The actor, Woodward added, has been “blacklisted” and “excommunicated” from Hollywood roles and works as a laborer to support his 13-year-old daughter, who has autism.

Johnston expressed remorse and took responsibility for making it more difficult for police to do their jobs on January 6, sending a text message four days later that said: “(A)lthough it was not directly my fault, I still took part in hysteria. it burst into flames and was accordingly tear gassed,” Woodward said.

As of Oct. 6, more than 1,532 people had been charged federally and nearly 1,200 people had pleaded guilty or been found guilty at trial in connection with the Capitol riot. More than half of the roughly 1,000 people convicted so far are charged with offences, although nearly 600 have been charged with assaulting police or participating in a riot. At least five people died in or immediately after the violence, which caused $3 million in damage, injured 140 officers and forced the evacuation of Congress as it met to certify the results of the 2020 election.

Johnston voiced the character Jimmy Pesto on the Fox series Bob’s Burgers. He also appeared regularly on Mr. The Bob and David Show, an HBO sketch comedy series starring Bob Odenkirk And David Crossand “The Sarah Silverman Show” on Comedy Central.

US District Judge Carl J. Nichols passed the verdict.