Bob’s Burgers actor Jay Johnston convicted of Capitol riot on January 6

Johnston, 55, pleaded guilty to civil disorder in a hearing before U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols on Monday. FBI first published photos of Johnston in March 2021, asking for help identifying him, and an attorney for Johnston soon contacted the office. Johnston was subsequently fired from “Bob’s Burgers,” the Daily Beast reported in 2021, but he was not charged until June 2023 as the Justice Department worked through its backlog of potential cases against thousands of rioters.

Johnston’s sentencing was scheduled for Oct. 7. According to his plea agreement, federal sentencing guidelines call for a sentence of eight to 14 months. But prosecutors said they would seek an increase to 12 to 18 months because of the physical injuries Officer Daniel Hodges suffered. He suffered a concussion and cuts to his face when rioters ripped the gas mask off his head and beat him.

“I can’t remember all the different ways I was attacked,” Hodges testified in one case. Johnston is not charged with assaulting police officers, but admitted to being part of the crowd that used stolen police shields to form a “shield wall” and yelled “Heave-ho” as they repeatedly tried to overpower the group of officers guarding the entrance to the Capitol.

As of early June, more than 1,450 people have been charged with crimes related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, according to the Justice Department, and more than 1,040 have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial. According to a Washington Post database, the average prison sentence for pleading guilty to a serious crime is about 29 months, but the average sentence when rioting is the primary charge is about eight months.

According to court documents, Johnston was first caught on camera at 2 p.m. on Jan. 6, standing behind police barricades on the Capitol’s West Plaza, filming the crowd and police with his phone. As the barricades were being torn down by rioters, Johnston followed the crowd up the lower West Terrace and entered the tunnel at 3:05 p.m. There, he was handed a stolen police riot shield, according to the statement of facts filed in court Monday.

When rioters called for a “shield wall,” Johnston handed the shield to rioters just outside police and joined the group push that held Hodges down, court documents say. Johnston was initially pushed back toward the tunnel entrance, but made his way back into the tunnel and rejoined the pushing motion against officers before exiting the tunnel at 3:13 p.m.

Johnston was the voice of the character Jimmy Pesto on Fox’s “Bob’s Burgers.” He also appeared regularly on HBO’s “Mr. Show with Bob and David,” a sketch comedy series starring Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, and on Comedy Central’s “The Sarah Silverman Show.”