SC lawyer who filmed participation in Jan. 6 Capitol riot gets jail, probation

A suspended Charleston-area attorney was sentenced Friday to 21 days in jail and 90 days of house arrest for his participation in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The lawyer, David Johnston, 66, must also pay a $2,500 fine and $500 restitution for his part in the nearly $3 million worth of damages done by rioters in the Capitol breach. He will also be on probation for three years.

A one-paragraph federal court filing filed several hours after Johnston’s sentencing hearing in a District of Columbia courtroom initially said, without elaborating, that Johnston’s probation would have “special conditions of intermittent confinement and home detention.”

Later Friday, a seven-page filing by U.S. Judge Beryl Howell spelled out the confinement conditions, saying that Johnston would spend 21 days confinement “at a facility designated by the Bureau of Prisons.” Howell recommended that Johnston be assigned to the Charleston County Detention Center in North Charleston.

Federal prosecutor Ashly Akers had asked that Johnston receive a 42-day prison sentence.

Arguing for leniency, Johnston’s lawyer, Christopher Gramiccioni of Charleston, instead asked for a 12-month probation sentence. In a sentencing memo, Gramiccioni wrote that Johnston had merely walked around the Capitol after illegally entering it with rioters, and said his client did not hit anyone or destroy property. He also submitted letters from Johnston’s pastor, new employer and friends saying what a caring, helpful person Johnston is.

A live audio feed of the court hearing, typically available in past Jan. 6-related cases, was unavailable Friday. No explanation was given for the lack of remote access.

Johnston, 66, who lives in Summerville, pleaded guilty in September to willfully parading, demonstrating and picketing inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He was fired from the George Sink law firm after his arrest, and the S.C. later Supreme Court suspended his law license.

A supporter of former President Trump, Johnston wore a red, white and blue stocking hat with “TRUMP” on it the day of the Capitol riot. On that day, he entered the Capitol about 10 minutes after it had been breached by force, while others around him climbed through broken windows and broken glass, prosecutors said in a previous filing. Prosecutors said Johnston spent 30 minutes inside the Capitol, and watched as rioters “obstructed and prevented sliding bay doors from closing.”

Johnston, prosecutors said, then walked through the doors toward the Capitol’s visitor’s center and “filmed a confrontation between rioters and police,” only leaving the building when officers pushed him out.

Congress was meeting Jan. 6 to certify Joe Biden the November 2020 presidential election winner. Following continued unfounded claims of widespread election fraud, pro-Trump rioters marched toward the Capitol, then violently entered it, causing Congress to pause certification for hours.

As a lawyer, prosecutors said Johnston should have known better than to be part of a mob that broke through police lines and attacked the Capitol.

“Johnston’s status as a practicing attorney on Jan. 6 is a particularly aggravating feature of this case,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo. “Unlike other professionals, attorneys are rigorously taught about the importance of adhering to the rule of law. In their professional work and continuing education, they are frequently reminded that the rule of law is an essential component of a free and orderly society.”

Rather, prosecutors said, Johnston “trashed” the law that day and after the riot, encouraging his friend Chadwick Clifton, his co-defendant, to “avoid coming under suspicion by law enforcement officials tasked with uncovering what happened on Jan. 6.”

Clifton pleaded guilty in October and is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 13.

A friend of Johnston’s, Clifton is a construction worker. Court records said it had been Johnston’s idea to go to Washington that day and he encouraged Clifton to go with him to attend Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally, a slogan capturing the former president’s false claims that he had lost the 2020 election because of election fraud.

Underscoring the seriousness of the riot, prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo that Jan. 6 was “a violent attack” that “threatened the peaceful transfer of power” after the 2020 election, injured more than 100 police officers and resulted in more than $2.8 million in losses.

The 19 people from South Carolina arrested in the Capitol breach are among some 900 arrested so far for illegal acts that day, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Of the 19, nine so far have pleaded guilty. Their sentences have ranged from probation to nearly four years in prison. Charges against the others are pending.

Editor’s note: The headline and article have been updated online to reflect new, publicly available details about David Johnston’s sentencing.

This story was originally published December 16, 2022 at 12:58 PM.