Rebecca Lavrenz, known as the “J6 praying grandma,” has been sentenced to a six-month house arrest and a $103,000 fine.
Lavrenz spent 10 minutes inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Prior to entering the U.S. Capitol, she said, “It’s our house, you can’t take our house,” according to a memo.
“Although Lavrenz certainly has a First Amendment right to publicly espouse her views, her unrepentant promotion of the riot is powerful evidence that she continues to pose a threat to future acts of political violence like that which engulfed the nation on January 6,” the sentencing memo explains.
The DOJ initially sought “10 months’ incarceration, 12 months of supervised release, 60 hours of community service, $500 in restitution” for Lavrenz’s actions.
The memo claims that Lavrenz “continues to advocate–loudly–for lawlessness today,” describing the grandmother’s “decision to position herself at the front of the mob; her attempt to get close to the members of Congress inside the Capitol on January 6; her complete and utter lack of remorse, as demonstrated by her highly inflammatory post-January 6 statements in the media; and her decision to fundraise off her own criminality.”
According to the memo, Lavrenz also sought to profit off of her “celebrity” status since being involved in the 2021 U.S. Capitol event. The grandmother has “chosen to use her newfound celebrity to rewrite the history of January 6,” the filing reads.
Lavrenz’s attorney, John Pierce of the National Constitutional Law Union, told The Daily Caller that he believes the $103,000 fine is the “largest misdemeanor fine in American history.”
“It’s going to financially destroy her if she has to pay it,” Pierce said.
Addressing the claims that Lavrenz profited off of her celebrity status, Pierce explained that her case has “a lot of attention.” He noted that this is “not because she was trying to be a celebrity, but because they went after a praying, you know, great-grandmother.”
Lavrenz has launched a GiveSendGo campaign to raise money for her legal fees.
