IN THE CITY OF Washington —
A man who was charged with involvement in the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6th and nicknamed “Conan O’Riot” due to his similarity to comedian Conan O’Brien received a 75-day sentence from the federal government this week.
The former Marine Derek Nelson was finally apprehended in October, after being named more than two years prior by internet “sedition hunters” who had assisted the FBI in the apprehension of hundreds of defendants on January 6th. Through his March guilty plea, Nelson admitted to entering and staying in a restricted building.
When Nelson, 31, and his friend and fellow ex-marine Derek Dodder went to the Capitol, Dodder informed federal officials that Nelson was acting as a “rabble rouser” while dressed as a Revolutionary War soldier. Federal prosecutors had requested a six-month jail sentence for Nelson.
Image – NBC
The two rioters purchased respirators from a nearby hardware store and participated in the break of police lines; Nelson was seen attempting to body-check one officer and then assisting a fellow rioter in retrieving the officer’s shield after it had been dropped. At least one video dated January 6, 2021, shows Nelson declaring his intention to “start a revolution” while in Washington.
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An armed police officer pointed a gun through shattered glass as protesters shattered windows and engaged in a stand-off with members of Congress; Nelson soon became a part of the throng attempting to break into the House of Representatives. His entire time inside the building was close to forty-eight minutes.
Per his plea bargain, Nelson met with federal prosecutors twice; yet, their assessment of his explanations was that they “were either internally inconsistent or did not stand up to serious scrutiny.” As he yelled out, “To protect the Constitution of the United States against enemies, foreign and domestic,” he was actually referring to members of Congress as “enemies.” He subsequently explained that he believed his revolutionary attire was a “fitting symbol for the occasion.”
The sentencing brief put up by Nelson’s attorney described the former Marine as a “naive and naive young man” who was “lured by a guileless but misguided sense of patriotism” to Washington, D.C., on January 6, and as someone who feels regret for his actions that day.
“Derek Nelson was steeped in the language of division, and fed a diet of discourse that demonized the other side,” his legal representatives stated. “It’s no wonder that he came to the Capitol deluded by a line of thinking that had been served ad nauseum.”
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It was stated that Nelson has subsequently become a committed family man whose “remorse and acceptance of responsibility for his criminal conduct is manifest and sincere.”
Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols sentenced Nelson to 75 days in prison and ordered his surrender within 60 days. Nichols’s decision, which went to the Supreme Court and is now impacting numerous cases involving Jan. 6, is having a domino effect on these cases. Additional terms of Nelson’s release include a year of supervision.
The three and a half years following the Capitol attack have seen over 1,400 arrests by the FBI and over 1,000 convictions by federal prosecutors. Penalties for the over five hundred and forty-four defendants range from a few days to twenty-two years in federal prison for Enrique Tarrio, the formerly-convicted leader of the Proud Boys, who was found guilty of seditious conspiracy.
Verdicts on hundreds of other rioters have been handed down to probation. For offenses committed on January 6, the deadline for filing a prosecution is January 2026, which is less than one and a half years away.