Puyallup couple sentenced in federal court for participating in Jan. 6 insurrection
A Puyallup couple was sentenced Monday to probation and home detention for the misdemeanor offense of walking through the U.S. Capitol building during the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection in Washington, D.C.
Scott and Holly Christensen pleaded guilty Sept. 25 in U.S. District Court to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a capitol building. They were among an estimated 2,000 people who entered the building during the riot, temporarily disrupting the peaceful transfer of power as lawmakers met to certify President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
Judge Dabney Friedrich sentenced both defendants to 36 months of probation with a special condition of 30 days of home confinement, according to Holly Christensen’s attorney, Robert Jenkins. The couple appeared remotely via video in federal court for the District of Columbia. They have been out of custody on their personal recognizance since their first court appearance in December last year.
Federal prosecutors had recommended the couple each be sentenced to 45 days of incarceration, writing in a sentencing memorandum that neither defendant had expressed remorse for their conduct.
“Although Scott Christensen called January 6 the worst day of his life, his regret surrounding the day is clearly about the consequences to him and his wife, not to the country,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolina Nevin wrote. “Holly Christensen has expressed no remorse whatsoever.”
The attack on the Capitol left five people dead, and at least 140 police officers were assaulted, according to the Department of Justice. The department said damages to the grounds and the Capitol building were estimated at more than $2.8 million.
The Christensens were not accused of taking part in the violence. According to court records, the husband and wife entered through the East Rotunda minutes after it was breached by rioters, used a fourth-floor bathroom and remained in the building for less than an hour before leaving.
Jenkins said he’s represented two dozen defendants in Jan. 6 cases, and he said some never stopped arguing that they and other participants did nothing wrong. The same isn’t true for Holly Christensen, the lawyer said. She didn’t travel to D.C. with malicious intent, he said, but she knows she crossed a line and was “embarrassed” by her actions.
The News Tribune was not able to reach Scott Christensen’s lawyer for comment. In a sentencing memorandum, defense attorney Peter Cooper wrote that Scott Christensen looks back on the events of the day with regret.
“He knows that despite a lack of any underlying malevolence, or any thought to alter the election, or even to fight like hell, his actions crossed a line, and he accepts responsibility for this,” Cooper wrote.
Scott Christensen has worked in real estate in the Puyallup area, and he was a pastor at Renovo Church of Christ, which at one point met weekly at Pierce College. The church is now closed, but a YouTube video showed Scott giving a sermon there as recently as 2015.
He and his wife are described as admirers of former President Donald Trump in court filings. Cooper wrote that Scott believed in Trump in 2016, and the then-incumbent had earned his vote again in 2020. As the election approached, the attorney said Trump claimed that he could only lose if election fraud had taken place, and the claim was “bombarded across right-wing media.” Holly’s attorney wrote that she was one of “millions of Americans” who became convinced that the outcome of the election was the result of fraud.
Scott was aware that Trump had called for a rally on Jan. 6, according to the court documents, and, having never seen the man in person, Scott decided to travel to Washington, D.C. He presented it as a “surprise Christmas gift” to his wife, and they made reservations to go.
The Christensens arrived Jan. 4 and spent the next day visiting Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the Arlington National Cemetery before returning to their hotel in Rockville, Maryland, records state. The next morning, Cooper wrote, the couple traveled to the National Mall and found Trump supporters packed between the Ellipse and the Washington Monument.
Trump gave his speech at noon, according to the Associated Press, and the crowd was estimated at at least 10,000. Cooper wrote that the Christensens watched from Constitution Avenue.
The Christensens walked east, and Scott Christensen reportedly remembers seeing an increased police presence, loud booms and smoke as they neared the Capitol grounds. A curved path took them around the north end of the Capitol building, where they saw people trying to scale a wall to reach the west terrace.
“As they came around onto the East Plaza, they were confronted with the scene of what seemed like all the Trump supporters in the world congregated in one place,” Cooper wrote. “The mood was still upbeat — packed together like sardines.”
Entering the Capitol was “a bit of a blur” for Scott Christensen, his attorney wrote. The defendant didn’t have any plan to enter the building, according to the sentencing memo, but he was carried along with the crowd.
“He was swept in while clinging to his wife for dear life,” Cooper wrote.
In September 2021, an FBI agent met with Scott Christensen’s then-supervisor at a realty office in Puyallup, according to federal prosecutors’ criminal complaint. The supervisor identified him in several images showing the inside of the Capitol building. The husband and wife were taken into custody Dec. 7, 2022.
More than 1,200 people have been charged in connection to the Jan. 6 riots, and 737 have been sentenced, according to an NPR database. The median sentence for those who received prison time is 150 days. Only three people have been acquitted of all charges.
Three other Puyallup residents have been convicted of and sentenced on federal charges in connection to the Jan. 6 riot.
Kevin Cronin and his two sons, Kevin Cronin II and Dylan Cronin pleaded guilty to misdemeanor offenses earlier this year. Cronin got 18 months probation April 13, Cronin II got 30 days incarceration June 9, and Dylan Cronin got 8 months incarceration Sept. 8 for breaking glass outside the Capitol building and climbing in through an adjacent window.
The case of an Orting man and son who face felony and misdemeanor charges for participating in the attack is still pending with court dates in January.
This story was originally published December 19, 2023 at 10:00 AM.
