Doctor, 70, sentenced to prison for punching officer in face during Capitol riot

WASHINGTON — A federal judge granted a significant downward variance Thursday that will send a Massachusetts doctor to prison for only a third of the time prosecutors sought in her Jan. 6 case.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly sentenced Jaquelyn Starer, 70, of Ashland, to nine months in prison for punching a police officer in the head during the Capitol riot. Starer will also serve two years of supervised release, nine months of which will be spent on home detention, and will have to pay $2,000 in restitution and an additional $2,000 fine.

Starer, pleaded guilty in April without the benefit of a plea deal to eight counts, including felony counts of civil disorder and assaulting police. She will be allowed to self-surrender at a later date.

Federal prosecutors had sought 27 months in prison for Starer, saying the assault on an officer in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol was "entirely incongruent with her sworn oath as a physician to do no harm." Starer voluntarily agreed to give up her license to practice medicine in Massachusetts in January 2023 shortly after her arrest. She had previously worked as an addiction recovery specialist and OB/GYN.

Starer faced an estimated sentencing guideline of 24-30 months in prison, and a recommendation from the probation department that she serve 12 months. She had sought a probation-only sentence.

Kelly, an appointee of former President Donald Trump who has handed down the longest Capitol riot sentence to date – 22 years for former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio – said he was varying downward because of Starer’s age and medical conditions. But, he said, he still couldn’t explain her determination on Jan. 6. to get past police and into the Capitol, which he described as “ominous.”

“You’re a very educated person. A person with a lot of life experience,” Kelly said. “I can’t explain why you were trying to get into the bowels of the Capitol like a heat-seeking missile.”

According to charging documents, Starer was identified to the FBI days after the riot when a tipster said she had bragged to a mutual acquaintance about preparing for Jan. 6 with a mesh knife-proof shirt and a bottle of pepper spray. However, Starer wasn’t arrested until December 2022.

By that time, investigators had located footage of Starer entering the East Rotunda Doors roughly 10 minutes after they were first breached and then making her way to the front of the mob where officers were attempting to keep rioters from entering further into the building. According to charging documents, Starer walked up to another rioter who was waving and yelling, “No! No! No!” at fellow members of the mob and pushed their arm down. She then turned on an officer who approached her and punched her in the head.

“Officer M.B. stated that a blonde woman wearing a red jacket and hat punched her in the left side of her head,” according to an affidavit filed in her case. “Officer M.B. stated that the blonde woman came at her again, and Officer M.B. struck the woman in response.”

After Starer punched the officer, a scuffle between police and other members of the mob ensued. Investigators said Starer appeared to have been affected by O.C. spray deployed during the fight and left the building roughly 15 minutes later.

Kelly agreed to recommend Starer be placed at FCI Danbury, a low-security federal facility in Connecticut.

In the 43 months since the attack on the Capitol, nearly 1,500 people have been arrested and charged with crimes ranging from entering a restricted area to seditious conspiracy. More than 1,100 defendants have now been convicted in connection with the attack.