WASHINGTON — A Colorado Springs man was sentenced to prison on Tuesday by a federal judge after pleading guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.
Jonathan Grace, 49, was sentenced to two years in prison and three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $5,000 in fines and $2,000 in restitution. Grace pleaded guilty in October to a felony charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers.
According to court documents, Grace attended former President Donald Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally and then marched to the Capitol, entering the restricted area of the Capitol grounds at the West Front.
Grace made his way to the Lower West Terrace Tunnel, where by the time he had arrived, rioters had been fighting with Capitol police for about 30 minutes, court documents say. Just after 3 p.m., Grace entered the tunnel and remained there, fighting officers for nearly an hour, according to court documents.
Grace joined a collective "Heave! Ho!" effort, which was a coordinated push against officers in the tunnel. Rhythmically yelling "Heave! Ho!" as their signal, the rioters locked arms or bodies with one another and moved backward in unison before rocking and pushing forward together, court documents say.
Grace put his head down and used his body weight to forcefully push in unison with the rioters against the police officers, according to court filings. Court documents say that as Grace and the rioters thrust their collective body weight into the officers, one officer could be heard screaming in pain as he was smashed between a shield and a metal door frame.
Officers were able to push the mob out after a prolonged pushing effort by rioters, court documents say. Grace stayed near the tunnel and reentered, making his way to the front of the mob, joining others in more efforts to push their way in, court documents say.
Police were able to again push out the rioters with Grace remaining at the front of the mob, fighting with officers, according to court documents.
Grace finally retreated after being sprayed with a chemical irritant, court documents say.
Grace was arrested by the FBI in March 2023.
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