WASHINGTON — A Donald Trump supporter who broke a Capitol window with a tomahawk ax and threw projectiles at officers during the most brutal battle of the Capitol riot was sentenced to seven years in federal prison on Friday.
Shane Jenkins – who calls himself “Skullet” because of his shaved head and mullet – was found guilty of nine criminal counts in March, including felony civil disorder; Obstructing any official proceeding; Assault, resist or obstruct an officer and use of a dangerous weapon by an officer; and destruction of government property.
The federal government had requested a sentence of more than 19 years in federal prison, which would have been one of the longest sentences given in any of the January 6 cases. The longest sentence ever handed down went to former Proud Boys head Enrique Tarrio, who was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison last month after pleading guilty to seditious conspiracy in May.
Jenkins’ lawyer called January 6 “one of the most tragic episodes in American history” and added that “there are still many fraudsters who are free to continue propagating the ‘Great Lie’ that Trump won the election, Donald Trump. One of the most prominent people.”
The government called Jenkins’ conduct “serious” and said he had “planned a violent insurrection long before his arrival” in DC.
“His lack of remorse is extraordinary,” Assistant U.S. Attorney David Perry argued during the sentencing hearing Friday, and that he “thinks political violence is acceptable.”

“What if his preferred candidate is found guilty in some case?” Perry asked, referencing four pending criminal cases against former President Donald Trump, including one unfolding in the same federal court in D.C. where Jenkins was sentenced. “How will he react?”
Perry encouraged the judge not “to gamble with the democratic future of this country.”
Attorney Dennis Boyle said during the hearing that Trump promoted “a legal fiction” that Vice President Mike Pence could overturn the election results, and that people like Jenkins were “particularly susceptible” to Trump’s lies and propaganda.
Before his sentencing, Jenkins spoke about his troubled childhood and said his life was turned upside down when he learned he was adopted. He said that when he was 20, he tried to destroy himself with drugs and alcohol after a gunshot wound to his stepfather. (Jenkins said he shot his stepfather in self-defense, and was not charged.)
The Justice Department also said Jenkins took part in the January 6 attack on defendant Taylor Taranto – who was arrested outside former President Barack Obama’s home on July 10, when a dozen inmates allegedly stormed his pod. Entered the television room and attacked Taranto. “Because Taranto was saying disparaging things about Ashley Babbitt and her mother.” Taranto was ordered held in pre-trial detention.
In the 33 months since the Capitol attack, more than 1,100 participants have been arrested, and nearly 660 have received convictions, including nearly 400 prison terms.