Jay Matthew Kenyon at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 (U.S. Attorney’s Office).
A man from Virginia who participated in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol has been sentenced to 15 months in prison. Jay Matthew Kenyon, aged 47, claimed he was part of the revolution and wielded a pocketknife during the chaos.
Kenyon, who was found guilty in October after a trial, faced charges including civil disorder, trespassing, disorderly conduct, and picketing in a Capitol building. The sentencing was carried out by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who was appointed by Barack Obama.
According to prosecutors, Kenyon engaged in the riot by joining the crowd outside the House Chamber, where they were pushing against the doors and chanting. He then made his way to the House Appropriations Committee Room on the third floor before moving into the Rotunda. When law enforcement officers tried to clear the rioters from the Rotunda, Kenyon resisted and had to be physically removed from the building.
The statement of facts said an individual, later identified as Kenyon, was dragged from the crowd by police after he brandished a foldable pocketknife. Court documents said the officer “recalled the individual swinging the knife and perceived that the individual was trying to attack officers.” The officer disarmed him and officers subsequently pulled him from the crowd.
Kenyon was arrested on March 2, 2023, after the FBI received multiple tips, including from someone saying Kenyon posted a live video on Facebook while inside the Capitol building. Kenyon also alluded to an encounter with officers inside the Capitol building.
“We were let in by Capitol Police and then they attacked,” the Facebook post said. “No patriot broke one damn thing inside the Capitol on purpose. Capitol police attacking caused any damage.”
In their sentencing memo asking for 48 months of incarceration, prosecutors said Kenyon prepared for violence that day and arrived at the Capitol wearing body armor. They said he repeatedly ignored obvious signs that his presence was unauthorized and engaged in disruptive conduct that exacerbated the chaos. Even after being held at gunpoint by police officers attempting to evacuate members and staff, Kenyon refused to leave, prosecutors said.
“Throughout his time at the Capitol, Kenyon remained undeterred, convinced that he was ‘part of the revolution,’” prosecutors said.
They called his actions egregious and protracted and said their recommended sentence is warranted for “the mendacity and shocking lack of remorse Kenyon displayed while testifying at trial; and, significantly, his deliberate targeting of the peaceful transfer of power.”
Prosecutors pointed to his words in social media posts before the insurrection.
“On November 15, 2020 (and less than two weeks after election) Kenyon posted on Facebook about his experience, opining that, ‘America Needs to F—ing Wake up!’” the memo read.
“Anyone left that still doesn’t understand what is happening, you need to understand this is LEGIT1776,” Kenyon also wrote, according to the prosecutors’ sentencing memo.
He allegedly ended the post with a promise.
“I will fight,” the post read, according to court documents. “We are ready.”
In a post on Dec. 8, 2020, less than a month before the insurrection, Kenyon said: “We do not need martial law. We only need pitch forks and millions of Patriots. We occupy all Government Corruption Centers, accept all resignations, create autonomy zone in corrupt cities, as well as , autonomy zones at the state capitals. Accept all resignations of corrupt politicians and [bureaucrats].”
In a post on Dec. 20, 2020, Kenyon referred to Trump’s infamous tweet from the previous day: “Trump: January 6, 2021 Washington DC Be There, Will be Wild.”
The following day, he wrote, “Need 15 lbs more weight by January 6 and you DAMN right if you think Im going FULL ON PATRIOT! I AM RADICALIZED!! …”
In his sentencing memo asking for 24 months of probation or four months in custody, Kenyon’s lawyer, William L. Shipley, outlined a life of trauma that included his father murdering his mother when he was 1 and almost drowning in a drunken stupor.
“Now the Court knows the backstory that brought Mr. Kenyon to this point in his life, and the changes he made in the aftermath of his near-death experience in 2018,” Shipley wrote. “Up until events of January 6, 2021, Mr. Kenyon was hoping to find employment in the public sector at the municipal government level using his education in public administration — something that was frustrated by the COVID 19 pandemic in early 2020. Those expectations have been on hold pending the resolution of this case.”
“Defendant Jay Kenyon recommends a sentence of 24 months of probation, with a term of his probation being that he serve 8 months under home confinement, as an appropriate sentence in his case,” Shipley added. “Alternatively, taking into consideration the most serious offense of conviction, and the relatively innocuous nature of the offense conduct, if the Court determines that some term of incarceration is necessary, Defendant Kenyon suggests that a term of 4 months in custody is sufficient.”
