'We brought this on ourselves': Husband and wife duo who smoked joint inside the Capitol on January 6 are sentenced to 60 days in prison

Erin Snodgrass

July 15, 2022 1:01 AM

A husband and wife were sentenced to 60 days in prison this week for their role in the Jan. 6 riot.

John Getsinger, Jr. and Stacie Ann Hargis-Getsinger sit on a bench inside the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

John Getsinger Jr. and Stacie Ann Hargis-Getsinger smoked a joint in the Capitol, prosecutors said.They both apologized in court on Tuesday and said they regretted their actions.

A South Carolina husband and wife who smoked a joint while inside the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, were both sentenced to 60 days in prison earlier this week for their roles in the insurrection.

John Getsinger Jr. and Stacie Ann Hargis-Getsinger each pleaded guilty to one count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building in December 2021.

The duo initially faced four charges related to the riot, including disorderly conduct and violent entry. But as the government works to prosecute the more than 870 people arrestedin connection with the attack, federal prosecutors have offered some rioters lesser charges in exchange for theirguilty pleas.

Judge Emmet Sullivan on Tuesday said the Getsingers can serve their 60-day sentences sequentially as not to disrupt their home life, according to The State. Getsinger must report to prison by September 15, while Hargis-Getsinger will start her sentence by February 15.

Attorneys for the couple did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

In the aftermath of the attack, four separate tipsters contacted the FBI to say Getsinger and Hargis-Getsinger had been present at the Capitol that day, according to court documents. One tipster cited a video they had seen of the couple entering the building while saying, "This is war! We're storming the Capitol!"

The husband and wife were also captured on surveillance footage inside the building and prosecutors said they spent approximately 40 minutes inside, during which time they smoked a joint.

According to court documents, the couple took a bus to Washington, DC, on January 5 to protest the 2020 presidential election results. Social-media posts made by Hargis-Getsinger prior to the siege indicated that the two were passionate Trump supporters. The couple used a public Facebook page to organize a bus trip from South Carolina to the nation's capital, according to court documents.

Months after the insurrection, Hargis-Getsinger continued to spread lies about the election on social media and expressed no remorse for her participation in the deadly riot, prosecutors said.

But in court on Tuesday, both husband and wife apologized for partaking in the riot, telling the judge that they regretted their actions and had faced social and professional consequences.

"Regrettably, we brought this on ourselves," Getsinger said, according to WCSC. "I apologize to each and every police officer who felt threatened that day."

Getsinger asked the judge not to give his wife prison time, taking credit for the couple's decision to go to DC. But the judge ultimately sentenced both husband and wife to 60 days, The State reported, saying the couple's sentencing was meant to serve as a deterrent for anybody else who might believe they "have a right to storm the Capitol."

Erin Snodgrass