A Massachusetts doctor has been sentenced to nine months in prison plus nine months of house arrest for punching a cop during the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Jacqueline Starer participated in the riot and punched a police officer while insulting him during the melee. She told the U.S. District Court judge presiding over her case that she was not proud of her behavior during the “regrettable encounter” with the cop. The doctor said she took responsibility for what she did, and wished that she had taken better control of her emotions.
During her sentencing hearing, Starer also turned to face the police officer who she hit (the officer has not been identified) and apologized. That officer had told court that she worried her life was in danger as she tried to quell the rioting in Washington that day.
Judge Timothy Kelley seemed skeptical of Starer’s apparent contrition, asking her if she truly took responsibility, or whether she was going to blame her actions on the “fight or flight” instinct.
Starer, who is now 70, comes from Ashland, Massachusetts. She pleaded guilty earlier this year to eight criminal counts, including felony assault, and could not come to a plea agreement with the prosecution. The prosecutors had asked for a minimum two-year and three-month prison sentence for the doctor, who was working in addiction services when she was arrested. But Starer’s lawyers asked for house arrest, and the judge split the difference.
Starer attended the rally turned riot, which saw thousands of Donald Trump supporters converge on the Capitol to protest the certification of the 2020 presidential election. Trump and his supporters believe the election was tampered with. Although government officials and the media have blamed Trump for “causing the riot,” he can clearly be seen on video advising the crowd to protest “peacefully and patriotically.” Despite this, the Democrat left has vilified Trump and managed to convince at least half the country that he was solely responsible for the riot, which Democrats characterize as an attempt to destroy “our democracy.”
On January 6, Starer was among the crowd that pushed through a police barricade in front of a corridor to Nancy Pelosi’s office, who was then Speaker of the House. Starer got to the front of the crowd and began yelling at the cops. Another participant apparently tried to hold Starer back, but Starer shook her off and kept going toward the police. When a cop pushed her back, Starer punched him.
