A Washington, D.C., jury convicted Rebecca Lavrenz of Falcon, Colorado, known on social media as the “J6 Praying Grandma,” of four federal misdemeanor charges Thursday related to her participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, incursion of the U.S. Capitol.
The 71-year-old faces up to a year in prison and more than $200,000 in fines, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported.
According to federal court documents, Lavrenz’s crimes were entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a restricted area, disorderly conduct in the Capitol Building, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol.
Federal prosecutors said in a court filing that cellphone data and video footage showed Lavrenz entered the Capitol at approximately 2:43 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, about 90 minutes after the conclusion of then-President Donald Trump’s speech on the Ellipse.
She then walked to the Capitol Rotunda and exited the building at approximately 2:53 p.m.
So Lavrenz had been in the Capitol for about 10 minutes. The DOJ did not accuse her of engaging in violence or destroying any property.
The Biden DOJ wants to throw 70-year-old grandmother Rebecca Lavrenz in jail for a year and hit her with $210,000 in fines.
Her crime?
Praying in the Capitol for 10 minutes on January 6th.
Meanwhile illegal aliens not only go unpunished for their crimes, but are rewarded… pic.twitter.com/7d6uhaZCYg
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 4, 2024
Lavrenz told the Gazette she was surprised by Thursday’s verdict, but she believes “God wanted it to turn out this way so my voice could be amplified. We have to wake up our country.”
Do you think Lavrenz should have been acquitted?
Unlike many Jan. 6 cases with short jury deliberations, the 12-member jury at the federal court in the District of Columbia deliberated her case for 26 hours.
“The deliberation was good because obviously at least one person on the jury was fighting for me, and many people have been convicted in the first hour,” Lavrenz said.
She recounted to the Gazette that she felt led by God to drive across the country to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, to protest the irregularities of the 2020 presidential election.
“The whole reason I went to the Capitol was to pray,” Lavrenz said. “I didn’t get into this for myself. I was there to stand up for my country. God led me to go there and into the building to stand up for my First Amendment rights to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
While in the Capitol, she “felt God’s presence on me,” she said.
In an emotional video posted to social media last month ahead of her trial, Lavrenz said, “My own country is treating me like a criminal just because I believe that they stole my rightful president.”
“And just standing up for my country makes me a criminal, and it’s not right. It feels so weird to be here,” she added in the video, which she made in D.C.
In tears as I drive by the Capitol for the first time since January 2021.
My own country is treating me like a criminal. I’m here because I love my country. America is worth saving and I won’t give up.#j6trial #j6prayingrandma pic.twitter.com/hpW2MVOVJd
— Rebecca Lavrenz (@j6prayingrandma) March 20, 2024
The Gazette noted that if Lavrenz had been acquitted, she would have been the first Jan. 6 defendant to have been.
In January on the third anniversary of the Capitol incursion, U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves gave an update on the prosecutions.
“An important note when it comes to our prosecutions about those who remained outside the building: We have used our prosecutorial discretion to primarily focus on those who entered the building or those who engaged in corrupt conduct on Capitol grounds,” he said.
But he added any who entered the Capitol grounds might yet be prosecuted.
1) people walk all over the capitol grounds every single day. Treating it as illegal for a single day is anarcho-tyrannical. 2) I covered the event. I witnessed zero visual or audio indication that capitol grounds themselves were deemed off-limits. https://t.co/T0vL2Kp5wc
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) January 7, 2024
The Department of Justice said in a news release at the time more than 1,265 defendants had been charged in nearly all 50 states and D.C.
Of these, 1,186 had been charged with entering a restricted area.
“Approximately 749 federal defendants have had their cases adjudicated and received sentences for their criminal activity on Jan. 6. Approximately 467 have been sentenced to periods of incarceration,” the DOJ said.
