A Georgia man who once boasted about assaulting a police officer during the Capitol riot has been handed a nearly five-year prison sentence. Jack Wade Whitton, a business owner, was sentenced on Thursday to four years and nine months for his role in the violent actions on January 6, 2021, according to WABE.
During the riot, Whitton struck an officer with a metal crutch, dragged him into the mob, and later attempted to pull a second officer into the fray. He kicked at, threatened, and flung a construction pylon at officers. After striking an officer's riot shield, the 33-year-old from Locust Grove shouted "You're gonna die tonight!" Before U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras, Whitton now claims "I have changed" and expressed remorse for his "horrible" actions.
The prosecutors had sought an eight-year and one-month sentence for Whitton, who owned his own fence-building company prior to the events of January 6th. They pointed out that Whitton led the assault or acted alone in all three documented attacks on law enforcement that day.
Defense attorney Komron Jon Maknoon stated Whitton was in Washington not due to political motivations but rather to support his girlfriend, describing him as someone who possesses "a genuine love for his country and shares the desire for a free and fair election, much like any other citizen." Whitton told the judge he has "never been a troublemaker." He previously pleaded guilty to an assault charge. Videos of Whitton's assault on police were described as "gruesome" by Judge Contreras, and that Whitton "really were out of control," he said.
To date, over 1,350 individuals have faced federal charges in connection with the Capitol riot, with more than 850 sentenced and approximately two-thirds of those receiving prison terms. The sentences reported have ranged from a few days to as long as 22 years. Whitton is just one of nine defendants charged in the same attack on law enforcement officers, seven of whom have already been sentenced to prison terms by the judge, ranging from two years and six months to five years and ten months, as relayed by WABE.
