Jorden Mink of North Fayette, who smashed a window at the U.S. Capitol with a bat for all the world to see, is headed to federal prison for more than four years to pay for his violence on Jan. 6, 2021.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Friday gave him 51 months behind bars.
Mink, 29, had pleaded guilty to assaulting and resisting police using a weapon, theft of government property and aiding and abetting.
Mink was seen on video using a baseball bat to smash a window at the Capitol and then entering through that window. He started removing chairs and handing them to other rioters.
Others are seen on video handing out lamps and drawers through the window.
Mink was also seen on video trying to smash another window with his bat as well as spitting at police guarding a door and throwing objects at them, including a traffic cone, some kind of drawer and a stick.
Mink then was seen armed with a long pole, which he used to strike at police at the entrance and hitting their shields.
The investigation of Mink started on Jan. 15, 2021, when the Pittsburgh FBI received a tip identifying him as the person seen in videos smashing the window with a bat.
Agents identified him by his tattoos.
They also found on his social media accounts an image he posted of himself standing next to the Lincoln Memorial several days before the riot. Two months before that, he’d posted a photo showing him holding an assault rifle with a sticker on it saying, “I voted.”
The photo caption said, “The ballot is stronger than the bullet — Abraham Lincoln. Well … my magazines will be fully loaded just in case it’s not.”
One of Mink’s previous lawyers had said he acted like an “idiot” and a “jerk” in arguing that he wasn’t a real threat to anyone.
His current lawyer, Komron Jon Maknoon, said his client was acting out of a sense of curiosity on Jan. 6 but did not intend to engage in criminal actions.
“Mr. Mink’s intention was simply to witness a historic event,” he said in sentencing papers. “While his motives were not politically driven, he does possess a genuine love for his country and shares the desire for a free and fair election, much like any other citizen.”
He said Mink acted impulsively that day and regrets what he did.
Prosecutors said, however, that Mink had prepared for violence, noting the image he posted on Nov. 3, 2020, of himself on Instagram holding his assault weapon with the Abraham Lincoln quote and his boast about his magazines being “fully loaded.” He then posted a photo of himself at the Lincoln Memorial on Jan. 3, 2021, saying he’d arrived in D.C.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nialah Ferrer also noted Mink’s criminal record and said his actions on Jan. 6 were not isolated events in a law-abiding life.
“They came, instead, after a long series of offenses,” the prosecutor said in a sentencing memo. “His history and characteristics, including his history of arrest and conviction for violent assaults and history of violent rhetoric, weigh heavily in favor of a lengthy term of incarceration.”
In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss gave Mink three years of probation and a $2,000 fine.
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
