WASHINGTON — A Colorado bed and breakfast owner who promotes herself online as the “J6 Praying Grandma” was sentenced Monday to six months of house arrest in her Capitol riot case after the judge ruled against the “insulting” comments she made about the criminal justice system.
Prosecutors had sought a 10-month prison sentence for Rebecca Lavrenz, 72, whose felony trial has become a cause célèbre among conservatives critical of the prosecutions of the Ministry of Justice on January 6Prosecutors accused her of “profiting from the notoriety of her conviction” through a series of media appearances in which she questioned the integrity of the justice system and the jurors who convicted her.
Judge Zia Faruqui told Lavrenz that while her case is among the less serious ones from Jan. 6, “it is still a serious offense.” The judge occasionally raised his voice and sounded incredulous as he pressed her attorneys about her comments in the media dismissing the Jan. 6 prosecutions as “sham trials” and the D.C. jurors as biased.
“That does nothing but undermine public confidence in the system,” Faruqui said.
Faruqui told Lavrenz he didn’t think sending her to prison “would help.” But he fined her $103,000, and said he wanted to send a message that defendants shouldn’t profit from their “outrageous behavior.” He sentenced her to one year of probation, with the first six months to be spent on home confinement. During her home confinement, the judge ordered her to stay off the Internet.
Lavrenz has been embraced by former President Donald Trump, who has attacked the Jan. 6 indictments a central part of his campaign to return to the White House. After her conviction in April on felony charges, Trump said on social media that she was “being unfairly treated” by the Justice Department and shared a link to a website where people can donate to her legal fund.
Before she was sentenced, Lavrenz told the judge she went to the Capitol “in obedience to God.”
“This whole situation is not just about me, it’s about the people of the United States of America,” Lavrenz said.
Her lawyers asked for a suspended sentence without jail time, noting that Lavrenz did not participate in any violence or property destruction at the Capitol. In court documents, the defense accused prosecutors of trying to suppress her free speech.
“It is outrageous that the government would lock up this peaceful, nonviolent, elderly, retired, first-time offender in prison for months simply because Lavrenz candidly informed her fellow Americans about the criminal justice system for the January 6th defendants,” wrote attorney John Pierce.
Pierce said after the sentencing that they are glad she did not get a prison sentence, but they will appeal her conviction. He said they believe the fine the judge imposed is “one of the largest in history for a felony.”
Lavrenz, of Peyton, Colorado, has used a crowdfunding website to raise more than $230,000, much of which she received after her conviction this year, prosecutors said. Like many other defendants in the Capitol riots, Lavrenz has used the crowdfunding website GiveSendGo to raise money from supporters.
Lavrenz used some of the donated money to tour the country, defending the mob attack and lying about her own conduct, prosecutors said. Her lawyers said she spent more than $120,000 on legal fees, a $95,000 retainer for an appeal and $9,000 on travel and hotel expenses related to the court appearance.
Lavrenz saw other rioters break through bike rack barricades and overwhelm a line of police on the steps of the Capitol Rotunda, prosecutors said. She chanted, “This is our home, you can’t take our home” before entering the building, and she spent about 10 minutes inside the Capitol, prosecutors said.
During her trial, she testified that she walked through a hallway in the Capitol because she was looking for members of Congress, prosecutors said. Prosecutor Terence Parker told the judge there was “no doubt” she wanted to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.
“She almost promised to do it all again,” Parker said.
More than 1,400 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riots. More than 900 have been convicted and sentenced, with about two-thirds receiving prison sentences ranging from a few days to 22 years. Hundreds of people, like Lavrenz, who did not commit violence or destruction, have been charged only with misdemeanors.