Texas man who assaulted police alongside brother on Jan. 6 sentenced to 3 years in prison

WASHINGTON — A Texas man was sentenced to three years in prison Tuesday for assaulting police on Jan. 6 by throwing a flagpole at officers like a spear.

Brian Scott Jackson, of Katy, was arrested and indicted on six counts alongside his brother, Adam Lejay Jackson, in June 2022. Both men were accused of assaulting police during the Capitol riot – Adam with a stolen riot shield, and Jackson with a flagpole. Adam pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer in September 2023 and was sentenced in March to three years of probation, with the first year to be served on home confinement with GPS monitoring and intermittent confinement every weekend.

Jackson pleaded guilty in February to the same charge as part of a deal that, like his brother’s, allowed him to avoid a more serious version of the assault charge for using a dangerous weapon as part of the offense. In a sentencing memo filed last month, federal prosecutors sought 52 months, or more than four years, in prison for Jackson – saying he not only anticipated there would be violence on Jan. 6 but “was looking forward to it with excitement.”

Prosecutors said Jackson celebrated both his brother’s assault on police – bragging that he’d stolen a riot shield “from the f***ing popo!” – and his own after he launched a flagpole toward officers who were defending the Lower West Terrace Tunnel from a mob that was attempting to enter the U.S. Capitol.

Prosecutors said Jackson was initially exuberant after the riot, sending a text message on the evening of Jan. 6 reading, “We fought the b**** a** traitor cops we told them to stand down and fight on our side they refused we went to war we survived.” A day later, however, they said he attempted to delete incriminating videos and messages and asked others to do the same.

In addition to Jackon’s conduct on Jan. 6 and lack of remorse, prosecutors also highlighted his criminal history, which includes 10 prior stints behind bars, as well as his former membership in the white supremacist White Knights prison gang. In their memo, prosecutors said Jackson has a tattoo of Adolph Hitler’s signature on the back of his neck and another tattoo of a swastika on one of his calves. Jackson’s attorneys, John L. Machado and Carolyn Stewart, said he joined the gang “in order to survive” during a prior lengthy prison term in Texas and has since denounced the group and its supremacist underpinnings.

Machado and Stewart had sought a time-served sentence of approximately 26 months and a year of supervised release.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras sentenced Jackson to 37 months in prison, three years of supervised release, 60 hours of community service and $2,000 in restitution. Jackson, who has been held without bond since his arrest, will receive credit for time served.

In the 43 months since the attack on the U.S. Capitol, nearly 1,500 people have been charged, including nearly 550 charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding police.