Left: Isaac Yoder, wearing colonial garb and carrying a flagpole, at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 (U.S. Justice Department). Right: Jacob Chansley, the “QAnon Shaman,” is seen inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 carrying a spear with flag attached (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images).
Isaac Yoder, a man who wore colonial garb, wielded a metal sword and a nearly 6-foot long flagpole as he stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has resoundingly failed to convince a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that his sentence of one year imprisonment should be reduced because, as Yoder has insisted, the sword wasn’t a “dangerous weapon” but merely a prop for his colonial costume.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, denied the request in a cutting 12-page order issued July 5, telling Yoder that when it comes to the weapons he and other rioters carried at the Capitol, district courts have repeatedly found that any object with less obvious propensity for harm than even a metal sword like his, qualifies as dangerous weapon.
By invoking convicted Jan. 6 rioter Jacob Chansley, the so-called “Q-Anon Shaman” who stormed the Capitol while dressed in costume and carrying a spear, Lamberth called Yoder’s argument “doomed.”
In Chansley’s case, his efforts to characterize his spear as a “traditional Native American design rather than a dangerous weapon” fell utterly flat and the court deemed the claim “meritless.”
A 6-foot long pole with a metal spearhead fixed to the top is, Lamberth wrote, “undoubtedly, a dangerous weapon.”
The order states:
Likewise, this Court now holds that Yoder’s metal sword is, too, undoubtedly a dangerous weapon. An otherwise dangerous weapon does not suddenly become benign when included as part of a costume. Were that the case, every criminal could simply dress up as their favorite character before breaking the law to evade consequences associated with their use of dangerous weapons.
This Court will not welcome such absurdity by giving special treatment to defendants who cosplay while committing crimes.
In order to qualify for a sentence reduction, a defendant must have zero criminal history — and Yoder did not have a criminal past — but they must also meet other criteria under the law including a stipulation that the defendant cannot have been in possession of a dangerous weapon while committing the crime they were convicted of, the judge noted.
“One could reasonably assume that it goes without saying that a pointed metal sword is a dangerous weapon, but because Yoder disagrees, the Court will explain why this is so,” Lamberth wrote.
Applicable federal law “defines a dangerous weapon as “(i) an instrument capable of inflicting death or serious bodily injury; or (ii) an object that is not an instrument capable of inflicting death or serious bodily injury but (I) closely resembles such an instrument, or (II) the defendant used the object in a manner that created the impression that the object was such an instrument,” the judge wrote. “While Yoder maintains that his sword was a ‘play sword’ or ‘costume sword,’ it — like other swords — was metal and pointed, and thereby ‘an instrument capable of inflicting death or serious bodily injury. Indeed, throughout history, swords have been used for this very purpose, and to great effect,” the judge wrote.
Court records show Yoder — who has appealed his March 2023 bench trial conviction and is set to brief his appeal in September — has tried to set himself apart from other Jan. 6 defendants by arguing that he didn’t assault police with his weapon.
Left: Isaac Yoder carrying his flagpole through the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Right: Isaac Yoder in colonial garb inside of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Photos courtesy U.S. Justice Department.
But that didn’t entirely mitigate the seriousness of his decision to storm the Capitol and contribute to police officers being overwhelmed and overrun, Lamberth found.
Calling Jan. 6 “an event that has gravely scarred our country,” the judge reminded Yoder that he also gave false testimony and tried downplaying his conduct, “thereby committing perjury,” the order notes.
“Accordingly, this Court rejected Yoder’s false testimony and applied two additional points at sentencing for obstructing the administration of justice[.] Undeterred, Yoder has continued to spread falsehoods about his conviction and this Court after his trial and his sentencing in various interviews. This pattern of behavior demonstrates Yoder’s lack of remorse and antipathy towards the rule of law,” Lamberth wrote.
The judge also explained that when he had initially doled out Yoder’s sentence in August 2023, he of course considered the supportive letters provided by Yoder’s family or friends,
But the judge reiterated in the July 5 order what he told Yoder at sentencing: “The court was concerned and remains concerned about ‘another incident like this after the next election … where our whole democracy is teetering on whether or not the whole functioning of government comes to a screeching halt because of a riot in our nation’s Capitol.’”
“That remains true,” Lamberth continued. “While the Court commends Yoder for his good conduct post sentencing — excluding his interviews — a few months of good conduct cannot erase the permanent damage that his behavior and the behavior of others who stormed the Capitol, caused to our country.”
Even if Yoder were eligible, he concluded, the court would reject his attempts to reduce his sentence.
“However you slice it, Yoder is not entitled to a reduced sentence. This Court takes no pleasure in sentencing individuals to incarceration, but it declines Yoder’s invitation to upset its carefully considered sentence without basis in law,” the order states.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
