Bob’s Burgers actor sentenced to year in prison for US Capitol riot

Comedian Jay Johnston was sentenced to a year and one day in prison for his role in the January 6 Capitol riot.

He pleaded guilty in July to charges of interfering with law enforcement officers who were trying to stop a mob of Trump supporters from storming the U.S. Capitol.

Johnston, 56, has had an acting career in Hollywood dating back to the mid-1990s, and was fired from his role on the animated series Bob’s Burgers in December 2021 after he was identified as a possible rioter.

Prosecutors had sought a longer prison sentence for Johnston, whose lawyers argued that the U.S. “constantly exaggerated” the actor’s role in the attack.

Johnston spoke briefly in Washington court Monday before his sentencing, ABC News reported, and called his role in the attack “reprehensible.”

Judge Carl Nichols cited Johnston’s successful acting career as the reason his involvement was “even more inexplicable and disturbing.”

Based on body cameras and surveillance footage, authorities said Johnston “participated with other rioters in a group assault” on police officers guarding the entrance to the Capitol and “helped remove a stolen police shield.”

One policeman was wounded at the western entrance.

Johnston showed little remorse for his actions, U.S. prosecutors said, while demonstrating “clear knowledge of and participation in the violence used by rioters that day.”

As evidence, prosecutors cited a photo of Johnston dressed as a so-called “QAnon shaman” at a Halloween party two years after the 2021 incident.

Prosecutors also said Johnston sent messages to friends and family in the days after the riot, claiming the severity of the attacks had been “exaggerated by the media.”

Johnston’s lawyer, Stanley Woodward, wrote in a sentencing memo that his client was unfairly targeted “because he is a famous Hollywood actor and the government is using his status to make its point to the public.”

Johnston is “essentially blacklisted from Hollywood” and has “been working as a laborer for the past two years, which is clearly at odds with his actual experience and livelihood in film and television,” Mr. Woodward said.

Johnston had supporting roles in the hit comedy film Anchorman, as well as on television in Mr. Show, Arrested Development and Bob’s Burgers, where he voiced the fan-favorite character of Italian restaurateur Jimmy Pesto.

Almost 1,500 people have been charged in connection with the January 6, 2021 riots. Nearly 900 people have pleaded guilty to various crimes and more than 180 have been convicted in court, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he will pardon some or all of the rioters, whom he called “hostages” and “political prisoners,” if he wins the Nov. 5 election.

He did not provide details about who he would release or what criteria he would use to select them.