Trump supporter who attacked police during Jan. 6 Capitol riot gets 44 months in prison

A Trump supporter and former QAnon adherent from South Carolina who joined a mob and attacked police at the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Wednesday to 44 months in prison by a federal judge.

Prosecutors had asked for a minimum of 51 months in prison for Nicholas Languerand, 26, of Little River, a coastal community just north of Myrtle Beach. He had pleaded guilty in November to assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon, an offense that carries a maximum 20-year sentence.

But at the end of an 85-minute hearing, Judge John Bates gave Languerand some leniency, saying he was impressed by accounts of how alcohol, drugs and an “extremely difficult and chaotic childhood” had warped Languerand’s judgment and how extremists on the internet caused him to have the false belief that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and attack police defending the Capitol that day.

The judge also said he was moved by Languerand’s show of remorse and the fact that he would have a job and caring grandparents, Susan and Charles Killian, waiting to help him when he got out of prison. The Killians, who live in Little River, spoke in person at the hearing, which was in Washington, D.C.

Just before sentence was passed, Languerand told the judge, “I am a patriot, I do love this country, I am not a terrorist. ... I have no intention of never being involved in anything like this again.”

But Bates also told Languerand, who after the riot had called himself a “patriot” for attacking the police, was utterly wrong in claiming to be a patriot on that day.

“The patriots here were not those who were invading the Capitol,” the judge told Languerand. “The patriots were the police officers who were defending the Capitol.”

Bates told Languerand he had not only attacked police that day, he had assaulted the idea of America, a nation whose system of government rests on citizens accepting the results of lawful elections.

“This was an offense which strikes at the very heart of our democratic process and at the rule of law,” Bates said. ”(Rioters) sought to stop the peaceful transfer of power following the legitimate outcome of an election.”

Bates is the second of 11 people from South Carolina to be sentenced for their roles in the Capitol riot.

Joining the riot

Languerand, who wore a scarf during the riot with the word “Trump” on it, told the judge he had not intended to get involved in violence when he came to Washington. But he decided to join the rioters who were involved in heavy fighting with police after watching a fierce back-and-forth struggle at a doorway on the west side of the Capitol for two hours.

On deciding to join the rioters, Languerand, a former U.S. Army service member who was discharged for mental problems and drug use, “put himself among the front ranks of the rioters and threw a variety of dangerous objects at the police,” according to a prosecution memo.

Those objects included a heavy audio speaker, a weighty orange bollard and stick-like objects that when thrown “were capable of inflicting serious bodily injury,” the prosecution memo said.

“Although the facts and the circumstances surrounding the actions of each rioter who breached the U.S. Capitol and its grounds differ, each rioter’s actions were illegal and contributed, directly or indirectly, to the violence and destruction that day,” the memo said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Juman urged the judge to give Languerand a stiff sentence.

“The defendant was not caught up in the violence, he sought it out” and repeatedly attacked police, Juman said.

The attack on the Capitol was not just an attack on police or the people who work there, “it was an attack on our Democratic values” and Languerand made “a deliberate choice to” join in the riot and “bragged about it afterwards,” Juman said.

Juman’s memo to the judge contained numerous Instagram postings by Languerand after the riot. They included:

▪ “I never made it inside but I got some good shots in.”

▪ “Trump telling people to go home was kind of soft.”

▪ “There was an all out fight between the police defending the building and the patriots that were there.”

▪ “We were straight up fighting the cops in the doorway of the building. It was (expletive) insane.”

▪ “This is just the beginning. We have only begun to fight.”

▪ “Violence isn’t the only answer but in the face of tyranny it may be the only answer.”

QAnon follower

Languerand also acknowledged that at the time of the riot, he was a follower of QAnon, a collection of false conspiracy theories circulated on the internet by an anonymous person called “Q” that say the United States is controlled by a “deep state” of bureaucrats and that a secret group of pedophiles had conspired to undermine former President Donald Trump.

But Languerand told the judge that he followed a “peaceful” version of QAnon espoused by Jacob Chansley, a bare-chested rioter whose photo at the Capitol wearing a helmet with horns and animal pelts went viral on the internet. (Chansley, known as the “QAnon Shaman,” was sentenced to 41 months in prison for his role in the events of Jan. 6.)

A defense memo to the judge asking for a light sentence quoted a girlfriend of Languerand’s, identified only as Michelle, as saying that Languerand’s involvement “in the Trump movement gave him a sense of belonging and greater purpose. He has longed to be a part of something bigger than himself, and to make a real difference in the world, and that is what he thought he had found. He just unfortunately got sucked into something that was not as it seemed, and quickly got out of hand.”

Languerand had been laid off work in the fall of 2020 and was living in Vermont in a trailer with no car and no television. “He began spending all his time on the Internet, which is when he began consuming information being fed to the public from far-right groups such as QAnon and The Proud Boys,” according to a defense memo by attorney William Welch III.

The memo said Languerand came to South Carolina shortly after the Jan. 6 riot.

Languerand, originally from Vermont, was employed and living with his grandparents in Little River when the FBI arrested him last spring. The FBI found numerous weapons in the room where he was staying, as well as extremist writings.

According to a defense exhibit, the FBI and a SWAT team pounded on the Killian’s front door in Little River on April 15 “and burst in and arrested Nick at 6 a.m. who was getting ready for work.”

False claims of election fraud

Bates, who called QAnon a “purveyor of false conspiracy theories,” indicated he was not entirely convinced by Languerand’s purported rejection of QAnon and ordered that after he gets out of prison, his computers and phones will be monitored and subject to inspection by government officials during his two-year probation.

The judge also said he was concerned about Languerand’s excitement after the riot and noted that the defendant had, along with his other social media writings, posted this message: “Next time, we come back with rifles.”

Before the riot began, Trump and others spoke at a rally behind the White House, repeating falsehoods about how the presidential election had been stolen and exhorting the crowd to march on Congress and “Stop the Steal.“

Congress was in a special joint session that day to count and certify electoral votes from each state, which ultimately would confirm Joe Biden as president. Numerous lawsuits alleging election fraud were kicked out of courts in battleground states for lack of evidence or jurisdiction issues. Trump’s former Attorney General, William Barr, has said there was no widespread election fraud.

Rioters who breached the Capitol forced lawmakers to flee and seek cover for five hours. It was the first interruption of the peaceful transfer of power in a presidential election in the nation’s history.

Eleven people from South Carolina have been arrested on Capitol riot-related charges.

Only one, Andrew Hatley, had been sentenced before Wednesday. He got probation, in large part because he didn’t commit any violence or vandalism during a brief trespass into the Capitol.

Five South Carolinians have pleaded not guilty and are deciding whether to go to trial or plead guilty and accept a plea bargain. Four others have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

This story was originally published January 26, 2022 at 4:43 PM.