Melanie Lanham of Shaler, a mother of three who paraded around inside the U.S. Capitol, took a goofy selfie outside then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office and later described Jan. 6 as “amazing,” doesn’t think she should have to go to jail for her crime.
But federal prosecutors want her to spend a month behind bars.
Lanham, 43, formerly known as Melanie Archer, is set to be sentenced Thursday in the District of Columbia. She’s among some two dozen people from Western Pennsylvania charged with storming the Capitol in support of then-President Donald Trump’s election lies, which he is still repeating two years later.
Lanham pleaded guilty last year to parading in a Capitol building, a misdemeanor, admitting that she entered the building with Jordan Bonenberger, a young Marine reservist from Cranberry whose case is pending.
The pair drove together to D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, for the Trump rally and then entered the Capitol together, where they were captured on video among the Trump mob.
Lanham, a professional organizer who has three kids and three stepchildren, walked around and took some pictures, but she didn’t break or steal anything and didn’t fight with cops.
Because of that, her lawyer, Joseph Murphy, said she should get probation and community service but no jail.
Lanham said she didn’t go to D.C. with the intent to enter the Capitol but just to hear Trump speak. But she admitted that she went inside, entering at 2:44 p.m. and exiting at 2:57.
Prosecutors are asking the judge to give her 30 days in jail, three years of probation and a $500 restitution order.
Although she had maintained that police let rioters in, prosecutors said that clearly is not true as she could see police using tear gas against the crowd, watched some attackers climbing scaffolding and observed one rioter expelling the contents of a fire extinguisher at officers.
Despite witnessing all of that, she still entered through the Upper West Side doors with other rioters after police retreated from that area, then walked to a third floor hallway next to Pelosi’s office.
Government prosecutor Sarah Rocha said Lanham told the FBI that she and Bonenberger became separated in the crowd and that he had contacted her to say people were being let into the Capitol.
Lanham said that when she arrived, police were guarding the door and the crowd was being respectful of officers. She said she didn’t go in then because it appeared she wasn’t allowed to, but said when police later left, she walked inside and reunited with Bonenberger.
Lanham told agents she had penetrated so deeply into the Capitol because she was looking for a bathroom, but Rocha refuted that claim, noting that she took the time to pose for a selfie outside Pelosi’s door “with her tongue sticking out.”
Rocha also described Lanham’s activity online after the riot.
On Jan. 7 she sent an email to a newsletter saying the event was amazing and accusing the “msm” — mainstream media — of lying about what happened. She also said that the Trump mob comprised peaceful “grandpas and grandmas” and that any troublemakers were “Trump-posing Antifa.”
Bonenberger had indicated he might plead guilty on Feb. 3 but did not. A status conference is now set in his case for Friday.
Capitol riot prosecutions are approaching 1,000 and the FBI investigation is continuing.
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
