10 Kansas defendants were granted clemency in the Jan. 6 riot cases. Who are they?
Three Johnson County Proud Boys, a Topeka man with two master’s degrees and a registered sex offender from Kansas City, Kansas.
These are some of the 10 Kansans who were granted clemency by President Donald Trump in cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Four years after thousands of Trump’s supporters stormed the building in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, the president on Jan. 20 signed an executive order granting clemency to all of those charged in the attack. The order included full pardons of those already sentenced, commutations of sentences of 14 Proud Boys and Oath Keepers members and the dismissal of all pending cases.
Nearly 1,600 people were charged in almost all 50 states for crimes related to the attack, according to the Justice Department. That figure includes more than 600 defendants charged with assaulting or obstructing law enforcement. Of those charged, more than 1,000 pleaded guilty, one-third of them to felonies, and more than 260 were found guilty at trials. About 1,100 defendants had been sentenced, with roughly 667 receiving periods of incarceration.
Ten Kansas residents were among those charged for Jan. 6-related offenses. Nine had pleaded guilty and had been sentenced — three received probation, one was given probation and 30 days’ home detention, one got 70 days’ incarceration, one received four months’ incarceration plus two years’ probation, one got 20 months in prison, another, 55 months in prison, and one received 75 days in prison. The case of one other was headed for a jury trial in June 2025.
Here are the Kansas defendants who were pardoned or had their charges dismissed.
For the names of Missouri defendants and details of their cases, click here.
William “Billy” Chrestman, of Olathe, who prosecutors allege was a member of the far-right Proud Boys Kansas City chapter, was arrested Feb. 11, 2021, and faced multiple felony charges. He was indicted Feb. 26, 2021, along with Ryan Ashlock, Louis Enrique Colon, Christopher Kuehne and Arizona siblings Cory and Felicia Konold for conspiring to breach the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Prosecutors allege that Chrestman, a U.S. Army veteran, threatened to assault a federal law enforcement officer and carried a wooden ax handle while in the Capitol building and on the grounds. He could be seen on numerous videos alongside other Proud Boys during the riot, dressed in tactical gear, leading chants and wielding the ax handle inside the Capitol.
Chrestman was held without bond in the D.C. jail. He pleaded guilty on Oct. 16, 2023, to obstruction of an official proceeding and threatening a federal officer and was sentenced on Jan. 12, 2024, to 55 months in prison, three years of supervised release and $2,000 restitution. He was given credit for the nearly three years of time already served. Prison records show he was released from custody on Oct. 9, 2024.
Chrestman also is among dozens of defendants named in a civil lawsuit filed by the attorney general of the District of Columbia that calls the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers domestic terrorists and seeks to recover the costs of the attack.
Kuehne, formerly of Olathe, also faced multiple felony charges. Prosecutors said he brought orange reflective tape to the Capitol for the Kansas City-area Proud Boys to wear to identify themselves in the crowd. He can be seen in photos and videos from that day with two rolls of tape strapped to a backpack and a strip of tape on the back of the helmet he was wearing.
Once inside the Capitol, the charging documents said, Kuehne and other Proud Boys acted in concert “to prevent law enforcement officers from controlling the crowd by obstructing metal barriers that had been deployed to prevent the crowd’s further advancement into other areas of the Capitol building.” At one point, Kuehne grabbed what appeared to be a podium and placed it in the way of a metal barrier to keep it from closing, the documents said.
Kuehne, a U.S. Marine veteran, moved to Arizona in 2022, according to court records. He pleaded guilty on Sept. 7, 2023, to one felony count of obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder. He was sentenced Feb. 23, 2024, to 75 days in prison and 24 months of supervised release, which included 60 days of home detention. He also was ordered to pay $2,000 restitution for damage to the Capitol.
Kuehne also is among those named in the civil lawsuit filed by the attorney general of the District of Columbia.
Ashlock, of Gardner, did not enter the Capitol building but was part of the pro-Trump mob that breached police barricades on the grounds. He pleaded guilty on June 14, 2022, to one count of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, a misdemeanor. As part of the plea agreement, the government dropped the other charges against him, which were felonies. A “statement of offense” signed by Ashlock as part of his guilty plea said that he and other Kansas City Proud Boys took guns — including two AR-15 style rifles — body armor and breathing masks with them to the D.C. area but did not take the weapons to the Capitol.
Ashlock was sentenced Nov. 10, 2022, to 70 days in jail, 12 months of supervised release and $500 restitution for more than $2.8 million damage to the Capitol building and grounds and costs incurred by U.S. Capitol Police. He also is a defendant in the civil lawsuit filed by the attorney general of the District of Columbia.
William Pope, of Topeka, was arrested Feb. 12, 2021, and faced two felony charges and six misdemeanor counts. The government later dropped one felony and two misdemeanors. Among the allegations was that he tried to force open a door inside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office suite.
Pope, who has two master’s degrees, ran for Topeka City Council in 2019 and had been a student with Kansas State University’s Leadership Communication Doctoral Program. He also was a graduate teaching assistant at K-State. A K-State spokeswoman said in July 2022 that he was no longer employed by the university.
In August 2022, a federal judge ruled that Pope would be allowed to represent himself in the case. Since then, he has been fighting for access to U.S. Capitol Police security videos from Jan. 6 that he says include footage of undercover Metropolitan Police officers inciting protesters to breach the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. A jury trial scheduled for Dec. 2 was delayed, and the new trial date was June 2, 2025.
Mark Roger Rebegila, of St. Marys, was arrested in Topeka on March 15, 2021. Prosecutors said Rebegila entered the Capitol twice, despite being forced out the first time by law enforcement officers. Rebegila “initially bragged about his illegal breach of the Capitol to friends, claiming that he sat in a lawmaker’s chair and stole a bottle of liquor,” the government said, “and admitted that he later deleted evidence of his criminal conduct ‘because he did not want to get in trouble.’” But prosecutors said they found no evidence that he had stolen any liquor.
Rebegila pleaded guilty Dec. 1, 2021, to parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol building, a misdemeanor. After apologizing to all “who have been hurt by my actions,” the father of four was sentenced on April 20, 2022, to 30 days of home detention, two years’ probation, a $2,000 fine and 60 hours of community service. Rebegila also was required to pay $500 restitution for damage to the Capitol building.
Jennifer Ruth Parks, of Leavenworth, was arrested April 23, 2021, along with her friend, Esther Schwemmer. The two traveled together to Washington, D.C., from Kansas to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6. After the rally, they walked to the Capitol and witnessed the chaos unfolding as rioters were climbing the walls of the building. Prosecutors said the women took advantage of the chaos and entered the Capitol through an entrance where the doors had been broken open. They left the building after about 15 minutes, but only when law enforcement officers ordered them to go.
Parks pleaded guilty Sept. 28, 2021, to one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. She was sentenced on Dec. 8, 2021, to two years’ probation, 60 hours of community service and $500 restitution.
In a letter to the judge, Parks wrote: “I was devastated when I learned of the violence that had occurred at the Capitol that day, and that I had been a part of it.”
Schwemmer, also of Leavenworth, was a longtime hair stylist who retired in 2019. She pleaded guilty on Sept. 28, 2021, to a single misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. On Jan. 10, 2022, following a tearful apology for her actions, she was sentenced to two years’ probation, 60 hours of community service and $500 restitution.
“I’m deeply ashamed of my actions on that day,” Schwemmer told the judge. “Nothing about it was Christ-like … I hope with time I can forgive myself.”
Michael Eckerman, of Wichita, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Oct. 8, 2021. He was charged with three felonies and five misdemeanors.
The charging documents said that Eckerman was seen on surveillance cameras outside the Crypt of the Capitol building, pushing his way through the crowd, then shoving an officer. That officer was later interviewed and said that Eckerman pushed him “with aggressive force,” causing the officer to fall down a small set of stairs. After being knocked to the ground, the officer was sprayed in the face with a fire extinguisher by an unknown individual, the documents said.
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Eckerman and two companions then went up to Statuary Hall on the second floor, where he again pushed his way forward to another police line, according to the documents. Surveillance video later captured Eckerman heading toward the back entrance to the House Chamber, where Ashli Babbitt was shot by a law enforcement officer as she tried to climb through a door where glass had been broken out to get to the House Chamber, the documents said. Just after the shooting, video showed Eckerman and his companions exiting the Capitol through the upper House doors around 2:44 p.m.
Eckerman was scheduled to go to trial in Washington, D.C., in late November 2022, but on Nov. 8 he pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers or employees, a felony. He was sentenced March 8, 2023, to 20 months in prison, two years’ supervised released and $2,000 restitution. Records show he served time in the Federal Correctional Institution in Forrest City, Arkansas, a low-security facility, and was released from custody on April 29, 2024.
Kasey Von Owen Hopkins, of Kansas City, Kansas, was arrested Aug. 5, 2022, on four misdemeanor charges. Among the allegations is that he roamed through the Capitol building, entered a senator’s office and took a selfie in front of a bust of Winston Churchill.
Records from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation show that Hopkins is a registered sex offender in Kansas. Online court records show he pleaded guilty on Feb. 24, 2003, to forcible rape, forcible sodomy, domestic assault and felonious restraint involving a July 25, 2002, incident in St. Louis. He received a seven-year prison sentence.
Hopkins pleaded guilty on Dec. 20, 2022, to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. He was sentenced on April 10, 2023, to four months’ incarceration, two years’ probation and $500 restitution. Records show he was released from custody on Nov. 29, 2023.
“I’m ridiculously ashamed to be here right now,” he told the judge at his sentencing, but added that he was not the man he used to be. “If there’s any takeaway from January 6, it was that I allowed myself to get caught up — and bringing fear to people is something that goes against everything I am.”
Chad Suenram, of Wichita, who prosecutors say wore a patriotic face mask and had an American flag painted on his head when he entered the Capitol, was charged on July 6, 2023, with four misdemeanors.
Federal court documents alleged that the Marine veteran entered the Capitol twice and was in the building a total of about 35 minutes. After leaving the second time, the documents said, Suenram stood in front of a mob that had gathered outside the north door and was confronting police.
“After repeated attacks by the mob, police officers retreated inside the U.S. Capitol building,” the documents said. “Suenram kept his place at the front of the mob, and even after the officers’ retreat inside the building, Suenram stood directly in front of the north door for several minutes, filming and cheering as police officers deployed tear gas in an attempt to clear the area.
“Suenram remained a few feet away from the North Door as other rioters tried to use a bike rack and other objects to force entry into the building,” the court documents said.
He pleaded guilty on April 22 to one misdemeanor count of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds. He was sentenced Oct. 21 to two years’ probation and $500 restitution.
This story was originally published July 7, 2023 at 4:36 PM with the headline "10 Kansas defendants were granted clemency in the Jan. 6 riot cases. Who are they?."
