A 70-year-old woman from Ashland, Massachusetts, has admitted to her violent involvement in the January 6 Capitol riot, pleading guilty to assaulting law enforcement, among other charges. The Department of Justice revealed that Jacquelyn Starer faced court on a multi-count indictment comprising two felonies for civil disorder and for assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers during the chaos that unfolded in the heart of American democracy over two years ago.
Pushing past the noise of the "Stop the Steal" rally, Starer, after her charged participation, found herself in the Capitol Rotunda, where she made a physical altercation with the police. Her actions were part of a wave that disrupted the Congressional session to certify the 2020 presidential election. Starer approached the officers, then struck an officer after being pushed back, as court documents describe, and yelled expletives in the heat of confrontation, court documents detailed by the Justice Department said. Her sentencing is set for September 5 by U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly, pending the conclusion of this chapter on her involvement.
Starer's guilty plea includes six misdemeanor charges beyond the felonies: entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct, engaging in physical violence, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing within a Capitol building are among them, all acts that paint a picture of defiance against the established order and a willing breach of the law as far as the acts described. Tracked down and arrested in Ashland on December 20, 2022, the FBI listed her as BOLO number 405 in search of individuals linked to the siege, according to the DOJ statement.
The ongoing investigation into the riotous breach, led by the FBI’s Boston and Washington Field Offices and assisted by several law enforcement agencies across multiple jurisdictions, has seen more than 1,385 individuals charged, including close to 500 with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. These statistics tell of a nation still wrestling with the fallout of January 6, persistence flavoring the collective effort to bring those responsible to justice, reflecting an unyielding engagement with upholding the law, as the Department emphasized in their report.
