participants to document Jonathan Daniel Carlton’s movements during the rally and subsequent riot at the U.S. Capitol. Prosecutors claim this image shows the defendant exiting the building at 3:39 p.m., after spending around 20 minutes inside the Capitol.
Monitor Editor
RAIFORD— Federal prosecutors asked a judge to sentence a former Union Correctional Institution officer that participated in the Jan, 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riot to three months in prison. Prosecutors said that because the defendant was a sworn law enforcement officer at the time of his offense, he should receive a harsher punishment.
On March 29, Jonathan Daniel Carlton pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol building.
Before Carlton’s sentencing, Assistant U.S. attorneys submitted a memorandum to the court, asking that Carlton serve three months in prison, three years’ probation, 60 hours of community service and pay a $500 fine.
Earlier this month, the defendant’s attorney asked for a sentence of probation only for the former officer.
In arguing for jail time, prosecutors said the defendant made two separate entries into the building, entered the Capitol after seeing rioters climb scaffolding and clash with police, initially lied to law enforcement about his participation in the event and has expressed no remorse about his activities on Jan. 6.
“As a corrections officer,” prosecutors wrote in the memo, “Carlton would be well aware of the danger of a large mob against vastly outnumbered police officers. Moreover, he swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. As a law enforcement officer, Carlton held a special position of trust that he disregarded not only on January 6 but in the coming weeks when he lied to the FBI and hindered their investigation. That also demonstrates a very real need for specific deterrence in the form of incarceration.”
According to court papers, Carlton traveled to Washington by car the day before the riot with Bradley Weeks of Macclenny.
The two men attended the “Stop the Steal” rally and then marched to the Capital with other protesters.
“At about 2:00 p.m.,” according to a statement of offense filed by the Justice Department, “Defendant Carlton was a part of the group that had gathered on the lawn just north of the Northwest stairs. Defendant Weeks and Defendant Carlton watched as other members of the group destroyed the covering on the scaffolding, stood on the balustrade, and pushed past a line of officers trying to keep people away from the building. From there Defendant Carlton separated from Defendant Weeks and climbed the Northwest Stairs underneath the scaffolding to the Capitol’s Northwest Terrace.”
The statement says Carlton entered the Capitol with a large crowd through the Senate Wing Door about 2:48 p.m.
The statement added that while attempting to reunite with Weeks, Carlton left the building to get some air. He then re-entered the Capitol with Weeks, walking through the Crypt all the way to the Hall of Columns on the south side of the Capitol. The two men left the building around 3:30 and lingered on the northwest terrace until at least 3:52.
The FBI’s investigation of Weeks led them to Carlton. An agent first interviewed Carlton with a phone call on Jan. 20, 2021, when the Raiford man denied entering the Capitol, and told the agent he and Weeks were separated for about 20 minutes during the chaos.
“Carlton stated that upon reuniting with Weeks, the two left the area and traveled by Metro back to their hotel,” according to an arrest warrant. “Carlton further stated neither he nor Weeks took part in any property destruction, violence or confrontation with police.”
However, the day after the telephone call, during an in-person interview with agents, Carlton admitted to entering the building.
“When asked about his lie that he had not entered the Capitol,” the warrant says, “Carlton indicated that he was embarrassed to have participated in the demonstration, appalled by the riot, and just wanted to distance himself from it.”
Agents also retrieved text messages between the two men from Weeks’s phone, in which Carlton told the Macclenny man he was inside the building.
