Axe Handle-Holding Proud Boys Member Sentenced for Jan. 6

A member of the Proud Boys has been sentenced to more than four years in prison in connection with his actions during the Jan. 6, 2021 incidents at the Capitol, during which he carried a wooden axe handle with a flag attached to it.

According to the U.S. Attorney's office in Washington, D.C., William Chrestman, 51, of Kansas, was sentenced to 55 months in prison, along with 36 months of supervised release and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution, reports The Hill.

Chrestman has been in jail since he was arrested in February 2021 and will get credit for the time he's already served.

He pleaded guilty in October to charges of obstruction of an official proceeding and threatening a federal officer. 

Prosecutors said Chrestman, an Army veteran, was wearing a tactical vest and protective gloves while carrying a gas mask and the axe handle at the Capitol, adding that he bragged about harassing police officers. 

He had used the axe handle to prop open doors while encouraging others to go into the building, said prosecutors, noting that he stayed at the scene for more than an hour while law enforcement officers were trying to hold the perimeter. 

Chrestman was also accused of threatening police with his axe handle. 

Initially, prosecutors recommended Chrestman be sentenced to five years and three months in prison, saying he played a "significant role" in the rioting.

However, his attorney, Michael Cronkright, argued that his client didn't "do anything remotely violent" with the axe handle.

"The worst thing that the government has asserted is that he used it to touch a security gate that was already going up," Cronkright wrote.

More than 1,200 people have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 protests, with 900 pleading guilty or being convicted and just two being cleared of all charges, according to an Associated Press database.

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