WASHINGTON — An actor known for his roles in the television comedies Bob's Burgers and Arrested Development was sentenced on Monday to one year in prison for his part in a mob's attack on the U.S. Capitol nearly four years ago.
Jay Johnston, 56, of Los Angeles, joined other rioters in a “heave ho” push against police officers guarding a tunnel entrance to the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Johnston also cracked jokes and interacted with other rioters as he used a cellphone to record the violence around him, prosecutors said.
Johnston expressed regret that he “made it more difficult for the police to do their job" on Jan. 6. He said he never would have guessed that a riot would erupt that day.
“That was because of my own ignorance, I believe,” he told U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols. “If I had been more political, I could have seen that coming, perhaps.”
The judge, who sentenced Johnston to one year and one day of imprisonment, allowed him to remain free after the hearing and report to prison at a date to be determined. Nichols said he recognizes that Johnston will miss out on caring for his 13-year-old autistic daughter while he is behind bars.
“But his conduct on January 6th was quite problematic. Reprehensible, really,” the judge said.
Johnston pleaded guilty in July to interfering with police officers during a civil disorder, a felony punishable by a maximum prison sentence of five years.
Prosecutors recommended an 18-month prison sentence for Johnston. Their sentencing memo includes a photograph of a smiling Johnston dressed as Jacob Chansley, the spear-carrying Capitol rioter known as the “QAnon Shaman,” at a Halloween party roughly two years after the siege.
“He thinks his participation in one of the most serious crimes against our democracy is a joke,” prosecutors wrote.
Johnston played pizzeria owner Jimmy Pesto Sr. in Bob’s Burgers, a police officer in Arrested Development and a street-brawling newsman in the movie Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Johnston also appeared on Mr. Show with Bob and David, an HBO sketch comedy series that starred Bob Odenkirk and David Cross.
Johnston, a Chicago native, moved to Los Angeles in 1993 to pursue an acting career. After the riot, Johnston was fired by the creator of Bob's Burgers, lost a role in a movie based on the show and has "essentially been blacklisted” in Hollywood, said defense attorney Stanley Woodward.
"Instead, Mr. Johnston has worked as a handyman for the last two years — an obvious far cry from his actual expertise and livelihood in film and television," Woodward wrote.
Woodward accused the government of exaggerating Johnston’s riot participation “because he is an acclaimed Hollywood actor.”
Johnston attended then-President Donald Trump's “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on Jan. 6 before he marched to the Capitol. He used a metal bike rack to scale a stone wall to reach the Capitol's West Plaza before making his way to the mouth of a tunnel entrance that police were guarding on the Lower West Terrace.
“When he was under the archway, he turned and waved to other rioters, beckoning them to join him in fighting the police,” prosecutors wrote.
Entering the tunnel, Johnston helped other rioters flush chemical irritants out of their eyes. Another rioter gave him a stolen police shield, which he handed up closer to the police line. Johnston then joined other rioters in a “heave ho” push against police in the tunnel, a collective effort that crushed an officer against a door frame, prosecutors said.
Johnston recorded himself cracking a joke as rioters pushed an orange ladder toward police in the tunnel, saying, “We’re going to get those light bulbs fixed!”
A day after the riot, in a text message to an acquaintance, Johnston acknowledged being at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“The news has presented it as an attack. It actually wasn’t. Thought it kind of turned into that. It was a mess,” Johnston wrote.
FBI agents seized Johnston's cellphone when they searched his California home in June 2021.
More than 1,500 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 1,000 rioters have been convicted and sentenced. Roughly 650 of them received prison time ranging from a few days to 22 years.
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