A federal judge has sentenced a Texas married couple on Wednesday to years in prison over their alleged role in the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol in 2021. The husband and wife claimed that they were praying outside the Capitol when police launched crowd control munitions and forcibly began to push them back. The defendants alleged they were assaulted by police during the process, prompting them to use self-defense, which included using physical violence on two responding officers.

Mark Middleton, 55, and Jalise Middleton, 54, both of Forestburg, Texas, have been sentenced to 30 and 20 months in prison by US District Judge Randolph D. Moss. The prison sentences follow years of supervised release, 36 months for Mark and 30 months for Jalise, according to a press release from the Department of Justice, which initially sought 7.25 prison sentences for each defendant.

A federal jury convicted both of them in February of several felony and misdemeanor charges, including two counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding police officers, civil disorder, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct, engaging in physical violence, and other related charges.

The guilty verdict on the felony charge of obstruction of an official proceeding was dismissed in September following the June 2024 Supreme Court ruling in Fischer v. United States, which ultimately concluded that J6 defendants could not be charged under Section 1512(c)(2) of the US code for obstructing an official proceeding.

Background

Mark and Jalise Middleton were protesting at the police line on the West Plaza outside the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Around 2:10 pm, a large crowd on the north side of the plaza pressed against the bike racks police had been using to hold the crowd back, per court documents from the Middleton's legal defense. 

According to Capitol Police security footage cited in the documents, the police on the western front had been firing projectiles and hurling explosive munitions into the crowd for more than an hour before the Middletons' encounter with law enforcement, which lasted for about 5 to 7 seconds. Approximately one minute prior to the incident, officers launched a tear gas grenade into the crowd, which caused chemicals to fill the air.

The Middletons said they were praying at the police line when officers began to push the bike rack barricades into the group of demonstrators. Video footage submitted to the court by the defense showed the Middletons facing each other with their backs turned to police when officers started to forcibly disperse the group, as opposed to what prosecutors described as the couple preparing to hurl their bodies against the police line.

"The videos do show that at one point, Mrs. Middleton's scarf was being pulled by a police officer and Mr. Middleton has testified that he tried to pull Mrs. Middleton away from the police line and to have the police let go of his wife," defense attorney Stephen Brennwald wrote in Mark Middleton's sentencing memo. "This is a natural reaction that any person would have, even if the two people hadn't been married for decades as the Middletons have."

Brennwald told the court that police were the first to initiate physical contact with the Middletons.

Kira West, defense attorney for Jalise, wrote in the sentencing memo that her client's "behavior only happened because she was assaulted first - hit by a police officer and pushed by a large violent protester behind her."

"The officer was pulling her scarf and choking her and Ms. Middleton indiscriminately swatted at him to escape what she perceived was going to be her sudden death," West explained.
 

Assistant US Attorneys Sean McCauley and Brendan Ballou, who prosecuted the case for the federal government, presented the court with a different view of the Middletons on that day.

"Mark Middleton heckled police officers, including by shouting obscenities," the prosecutors wrote in their 47-page sentencing memo. "Together, the Middletons then threw their bodies into the barricades. When officers tried to restore the barricades and ordered them to get back, both the Middletons assaulted two officers."

Prosecutors submitted police bodycam footage to the court during the trial that showed Jalise Middleton "repeatedly grabbing and striking the same officer over the barricade with her hand, striking him in the face, chest, and arms," as per court documents. When another officer stepped in to assist, Jalise could be seen striking that officer as well.

Mark Middleton responded to police going after his wife by "using his flagpole to strike the second officer in the head," according to video footage presented to the jury at trial. However, defense counsel refuted the footage and insisted it did not show Mr. Middleton striking any officer with a flag pole, nor did he have a flag pole on him. The defense said other demonstrators in the group were in possession of flag poles.

"The Middletons only broke off their assault when the first officer sprayed them in the face with chemical irritants, forcing them to retreat from the barricaded line," the DOJ said in its press release. "Both defendants later posted social media messages touting their key role in helping to breach the barricades by fighting officers and that they had only stopped due to pepper spray."

More than 1,532 individuals have been charged by the Justice Department over their alleged roles in the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol. The investigations remain ongoing.