Capitol rioter who said she wanted to kill Nancy Pelosi jailed for 60 days

Dawn Bancroft will also serve three years of probation and 100 hours of community service

Sravasti Dasgupta
Friday 22 July 2022 11:03 BST
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Related video: Capitol rioter attacks police officers as crowd chant ‘U-S-A! U-S-A!’

A Capitol rioter who said she wanted to kill Nancy Pelosi has been sentenced to 60 days in jail by a court.

At the hearing on Thursday on Dawn Bancroft’s case, district judge Emmet Sullivan said: “Those comments, Mrs Bancroft, are not acceptable in a democratic society.”

“I feel bad for you, I feel bad for you that you made these comments.”

Ms Bancroft had filmed a selfie video as she left the Capitol building on 6 January, in which she said: “We were looking for Nancy to shoot her in the friggin’ brain but we didn’t find her.”

Last September, the 59-year-old made a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty only to a parading charge – a misdemeanor that carries a prison sentence of up to six months.

On Thursday, judge Sullivan said that while he considered sentencing Ms Bancroft to more jail time, he chose to stick with the Justice Department’s request of two months, reported CNN.

“The comments made by you on the steps of the Capitol in the presence of others... they were reckless statements that people should be held accountable for,” the judge said.

“How many others left there that day (thinking), ‘Hey, next time I come I’m going to bring my bullets for Nancy’,” he added.

In court, Ms Bancroft admitted she “made a very bad choice that day” and said that she regretted her actions.

She claimed she has been threatened and harassed with phone calls and letters since her arrest.

In court filings, her attorney Carina Laguzzi said her comments were not meant to be taken literally.

“Who hasn’t told their spouse, ‘I am going to kill you if you leave (your) shoes on the carpet again!’” Ms Laguzzi wrote. “And yet these statements are not meant to be taken literally.”

Ms Bancroft will also have to complete three years of probation and 100 hours of community service.

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