Washington, DC – A Georgia man has been sentenced for assaulting an officer at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riots. Jack Wade Whitton, 33, received a 57-month prison sentence, along with 36 months of supervised release and a $2,000 restitution order. Whitton had pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras criticized Whitton after viewing videos of the violence, remarking on the gruesome nature of the footage. Whitton expressed remorse during the proceedings and assured the judge he had changed. Whitton’s defense attorney provided insight into his motive for being at the Capitol that day. Whitton’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021, were detailed in court documents. In one post, he is reported to have shared images of his bloodied hands, indicating he had assaulted an officer.
Prosecutors, in their sentencing memo to the court, had requested a 97-month sentence for Whitton, highlighting his role in inciting violence during the riots.