A North Carolina woman who took her 14-year-old to the January 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection could face three months in prison, the Associated Press reported.
Federal prosecutors are recommending the sentence for housewife Virginia Marie "Jenny" Spencer. Jenny has pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. Prosecutors say that the couple's 14-year-old son was "in tow" when they broke into the Capitol and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office. Her husband, Christopher, pleaded not guilty to his charges.
The presence of a child could be a deciding factor in whether Jenny is sentenced to jail time. In their sentencing memo, the prosecutors said her "participation in a riot that actually succeeded in halting the Congressional certification combined with the defendant involving her minor child renders a sentence of incarceration both necessary and appropriate in this case."
The Spencers were allegedly in the U.S. Capitol for 30 minutes, the AP said. They were inside Pelosi's office and were part of a mob attempting to break into House chamber. Prosecutors wrote that the mother "smoked a cigarette there."
Jenny, who was arrested in Durham, North Carolina, in February, is among the more than 670 people charged with crimes relating to the riot. Furthermore, she is one of the 140 participants who have pleaded guilty. Despite that plea, prosecutors are seeking a three-month prison sentence because of the child's presence, the AP said. She will be sentenced on January 7.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.
Previous court filings in the case against the Spencers did not say that the child was with them during the riot.
According to prosecutors, Jenny Spencer saw police shooting tear gas and using percussion grenades on the mob before she and her husband entered the Capitol with their child about six minutes after the initial breach of the building.
Inside the building, the Spencers moved past police officers who were trying to hold back the crowd and then briefly entered Pelosi's office suite, the memo says.
"Of note, Speaker Pelosi had staff members who were trapped inside that suite as the rioters called for Speaker Pelosi steps away from them," prosecutors wrote.
Afterward, the Spencers joined another group of rioters who were trying to enter the House chamber, where members of Congress were sheltering, according to prosecutors.
After tear gas was used near the chamber entrance, the Spencers moved into a hallway where a rioter attacked a group of officers, according to prosecutors. They said Christopher Spencer shouted vulgarities at police while other rioters slid furniture at the officers.
Lawyers for the Spencers did not immediately respond to emails or telephone calls seeking comment.
Prosecutors compared Jenny Spencer's case to that of Boyd Camper, a Montana man who brought his 10-year-old to the Capitol on January 6 but left the boy outside with a friend before storming the building. A judge sentenced Camper last month to 60 days imprisonment.
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