Record at a Glance
- Category
- Jan 6th
- Age in NPR record
- 44
- Location
- Leeds, Alabama
- Charges
- Obstruction of an Official Proceeding and Aiding and Abetting; Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon; Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon; Unlawful Possession of a Dangerous Weapon on Capitol Grounds or Buildings; Entering and Remaining on the Floor of Congress; Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building
- Case status
- Pleaded not guilty; Convicted; Acquitted in part or full; Sentenced
- Presidential action
- Pardon
Case Summary
Joshua Black was photographed as part of a group of rioters who made it inside the Senate chamber. In the photos, he is wearing a camouflage jacket and yellow gloves and seems to be bleeding from his left cheek, according to court documents. Two days after the Capitol attack, he uploaded a video to YouTube detailing his account of the insurrection. "There was a glass door, and it said ‘U.S. Senate’ on it. I said I need to get in there," Black says in the video, which is detailed in the court documents, "So I was about to break the glass, and I thought, 'No, this is our house — we don’t act like that.' I was tempted to, I’m not gonna lie. 'Cause I’m pretty upset, you know? They stole my country.” Once inside the chamber, he says, he "praised the name of Jesus on the Senate floor." More than 24 hours after the insurrection, then-President Donald Trump condemned the Capitol riot and called it a "heinous attack," in a video on social media. Black, in his own video, mentions seeing Trump's denunciation. "I guess the hopes of getting a pardon are out the window,” Black says.
Case History
Black pleaded Not Guilty to all charges. In a Bench trial completed 1/13/2023, he was found Not Guilty of one charge: Obstruction. He was found Guilty of the remaining five charges. Sentenced on 5/16/2023 to 20 months of incarceration; 24 months of supervised release; Special Assessment of $320; Restitution of $2,000. Black 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 - Supporting Reporting
NPR video evidence pageNPR
Case summary, charges, procedural updates and image are drawn from the NPR Jan. 6 archive snapshot dated 2026-09-25 unless otherwise indicated.