Record at a Glance
- Category
- Jan 6th
- Location
- Covington, Virginia
- Charges
- Obstruction of an Official Proceeding; Destruction of Property in the Territorial Jurisdiction; Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds; Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds; Engaging in Physical Violence in a Restricted Building or Grounds; Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building; Act of Physical Violence in the Capitol Grounds or Buildings; Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building
- Case status
- Pleaded guilty; Dismissed in part or full; Sentenced
- Presidential action
- Pardon
Case Summary
Joshua Haynes, federal prosecutors allege, appears in a black hat and yellow bandanna in images taken in and around the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He was allegedly part of a group seen in publicly available video attacking members of the media at a staging area outside the Capitol. Haynes is reportedly depicted slamming a video camera on a tripod to the ground and stomping on it. Court documents also show images taken from another video that allegedly show Haynes, along with two others, attempting to pull an air conditioning unit from outside the Capitol building. Haynes was identified by a tipster who used publicly available facial recognition software to match images from photos with a post from a Parler profile, and agents subsequently pulled the subscriber records to find a phone number and email address. Search warrant records for the phone reportedly show that Haynes used it the day of the riot to take pictures inside the Capitol and at the media staging area, and to text with friends. One selfie depicted Haynes inside the office of a U.S. senator, court documents indicate. Later, texts were allegedly exchanged between Haynes and other individuals that indicated he had broken windows and crawled into the Capitol. Prosecutors say one friend texted Haynes the message “dont [sic] be like antifa tearing stuff up.” Haynes replied, “ahhhh tooooo late,” “broke lotsa stuff,” and then “lol.” Haynes reportedly indicated he was seen destroying media equipment, saying "i Kicked the fake news a**" and "I am in the video destroying stuff but I'm wearing a mask." FBI agents went to Haynes' house and interviewed him at length. Haynes allegedly said he believed riot suspects were being treated badly in contrast to people who had participated in Black Lives Matter protests and that he respected those who used force against law enforcement to "stop the election from being stolen." Haynes attended a Proud Boys meeting in late 2020, court documents indicate, but denied he was a member of the far-right extremist group, saying he "would have joined the chapter, but it was too far away and there were no members of the Proud Boys in his local area."
Case History
Haynes pleaded Guilty to two charges: Obstruction of an Official Proceeding and Destruction of Property in the Territorial Jurisdiction. The other charges are dismissed. Sentenced on 2/2/2023 to 32 months incarceration; 36 months of supervised release; $2,000 restitution; $200 special assessment. On 4/26/2023, the court ordered Haynes to pay the victim, ZDF, restitution of 29,989.36 euros. Haynes received a full pardon on January 20, 2025
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.