Jonathan Davis Laurens laughed it off when friends on Facebook suggested he should not be inside the U.S. Capitol as a pro-Trump mob swamped the building on Jan. 6, 2021.
“We got into the capitol, walked around, chanted some slogans and stuff,” he wrote. “We weren’t there to tear (expletive) up, just disrupt the system. All in all, I had fun! LOL.”
On Wednesday, the 39-year-old Duluth resident appeared via teleconference before a federal judge in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. to accept a plea deal and responsibility for his role in the riot. Laurens pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of demonstrating in the Capitol, a crime that carries a sentence of up to six months in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Laurens is the seventh of Georgia’s Jan. 6 defendants to plead guilty as the massive investigation involving more than 725 defendants nationwide moves through the federal courts. Five of the seven have pleaded to misdemeanors, while the cases of defendants with more serious charges are moving more slowly.
The breadth of the criminal investigation makes progress difficult. Laurens will have to wait four more months to find out if he is going to prison and for how long.
U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras said the district is backed up in preparing the reports judges use to determine an appropriate punishment. The continuing pandemic further complicates matters. Currently, in-person hearings are suspended, but that could change by June and Contreras was not able to tell Laurens whether he would have to come to Washington for sentencing.
Using security camera footage and Laurens’ own social media postings, investigators were able to trace his route through the Capitol from the Senate side, through the Rotunda and Statuary Hall, and over to the House where he stood as a mob of rioters attempted to force their way into the House chamber. Then Laurens entered the Rayburn Reception Room near the House chamber where he snapped a selfie underneath a painting of George Washington.
When the prosecution had finished describing his actions, Contreras asked Laurens if the account was correct.
“It all sounds truthful,” he said.
Laurens remains out on his own recognizance while awaiting sentencing.
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