Indianz.Com > News > Cronkite News: ‘QAnon Shaman’ changes attorney after guilty plea for attack on U.S. Capitol
‘Q-Shaman’ gets new lawyer, sets up likely appeal of January 6 guilty plea
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Jacob Chansley, the Arizona man who pleaded guilty to his role in the January 6 assault on the Capitol, switched attorneys Monday, laying the groundwork for a possible appeal of his plea and 41-month sentence.
Chansley’s decision to replace Albert Watkins with John Pierce comes less than two weeks after he expressed remorse at his sentencing for the January 6 attack, telling a judge that if the attack happened again he would “try with all of my heart and soul to stop people.”
Chansley – dubbed the “QAnon Shaman” for his support of QAnon conspiracy theories – quickly became the face of the assault on the Capitol, where he was pictured tattooed and in face paint, a spear in his hand and wearing a fur hat with horns.
By switching attorneys now, however, Chansley appears to be preparing for an appeal that could argue he was poorly represented by his original counsel – one of the limited appeals left to him in his November 17 plea agreement.

Note: This story originally appeared on Cronkite News. It is published via a Creative Commons license. Cronkite News is produced by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
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