Record at a Glance
- Category
- Jan 6th
- Age in NPR record
- 43
- Location
- Mount Washington, Kentucky
- Charges
- Civil Disorder and Aiding and Abetting; Destruction of Government Property Exceeding $1,000; Obstruction of an Official Proceeding and Aiding and Abetting; Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon; Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon; Engaging in Physical Violence in a Restricted Building with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon; Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building; Act of Physical Violence in the Capitol Building; Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in Capitol
- Case status
- Pleaded not guilty; Dismissed in part or full
Case Summary
Prosecutors allege that Chad Jones joined the group of rioters who tried to breach an area of the Capitol along with rioter Ashli Babbitt. Jones allegedly used a "long, wood flagpole" to strike out a door's glass panel near the Speaker's Lobby as the mob shouted, "Break it down!" and "Let's f***ing go!" Soon after, Babbitt tried to climb through one of the doors' broken windows and was shot and killed. Two days after the riot, a person identified as a "family member" of Jones contacted the FBI and said they recognized him from photos and videos of the scene. The family member also allegedly told the FBI that Jones had attended a previous Trump rally in Washington, D.C., and saw on Facebook that Jones had been planning to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Jones was arrested on Jan. 16, 2021, in Kentucky.
Case History
Jones pleaded Not Guilty to all charges. Verdict from a Bench trial on 7/26/2023 finds him Guilty on all charges. The court dismissed the Obstruction count on 8/27/2024. Sentencing reset for 2/5/2025. On 1/21/2025, the court grants the government’s motion to dismiss the case with prejudice.
Sources
- Primary Documentation
NPR Jan. 6 Defendant DatabaseNPR - Primary Documentation
Underlying court recordCourt record linked by NPR
Case summary, charges, procedural updates and image are drawn from the NPR Jan. 6 archive snapshot dated 2026-09-25 unless otherwise indicated.