WASHINGTON — A federal judge sentenced a man arrested in southern Minnesota and his father to jail time Wednesday for their part in the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Daniel Johnson, 30, was sentenced to four months incarceration while his father, Daryl Johnson, 51, of St. Ansgar, Iowa, received 30 days.
"This is an extremely difficult case," U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich said during the sentencing, where she noted the risks law enforcement officers faced as a result of the two men's actions on Jan. 6, 2021.
Both men were also sentenced to one year of supervised release, and must pay $2,000 in restitution and a $100 special assessment. Daryl Johnson was also ordered to pay a $2,000 fine.
The father and son — who lives with his parents, according to court records — pleaded guilty earlier this year to the felony charge of impeding law enforcement during a civil disorder. After then-President Donald Trump's repeated falsehoods that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and rigged, the mob breached the Capitol and sent members of Congress fleeing for safety on the day they were meeting to certify President Joe Biden's victory.
Court documents detail that the Johnsons were able to get into the Capitol through a window that was broken. Their role in a group that "rushed" law enforcement and led to the opening of the east rotunda doors at the Capitol, bringing more rioters into the building, became a focus of the case. Officers were described Wednesday as being "sandwiched."
"This was a major breach point in the events of Jan. 6," Assistant U.S. Attorney Samuel Dalke told the court.
Court filings show the younger Johnson said on Snapchat that he "was one of the first ones inside." His father said on Facebook a day after the attack that Jan. 6 "will be the beginning of the revolution."
"If [we] can get 50+ year old men and women upset enough to spend thousands of $ to come to a rally what happens when those same people decide to throw out the 'elected officials.' It will be hangings on the front lawn of the capitol," Daryl Johnson said on social media, according to court records.
In calling for probation rather than jail time, attorneys for the Johnsons painted their clients as having regrets and remorse.
"My actions of getting swept away in a mob leave me with deep feelings of regret and is one of the most shameful events of my life," Daniel Johnson wrote in a statement to the judge. "My involvement with that day is absolutely inexcusable."
The younger Johnson's defense also pointed in a court filing to his watching media coverage of protests in the aftermath of George Floyd's death and added that he "believed what he read on the internet and heard from the President himself — that the election had been stolen."
Daryl Johnson's defense described him in a separate filing as passionate, politically conservative and a successful small-business owner. During the court's videoconference Wednesday, he testified about the impact the pandemic had on him, and the emotional situation he was in on Jan. 6.
"I have spent the vast majority of my adult life serving my community and giving back in any way I can," he said in one court filing. "That is why my behavior on January 6th is so heartbreaking to me. I have no explanation nor any excuse. I was wrong to enter the capital and behave like I did."
The government had earlier asked that Daniel Johnson be sentenced to six months incarceration and for Daryl to get 90 days, along with three years of supervised release for both plus $2,000 in restitution and a $100 special assessment.
"The Johnsons' conduct directly contributed to the chaos of January 6," the U.S. attorney's office said in a recent court filing. "They directly interfered with law enforcement officers engaged in the performance of their duties, and, by breaking open the door, they helped further overwhelm law enforcement inside by growing the disparity between the number of officers and number of rioters."
Staff writer Paul Walsh contributed to this report.
