Jon Schaffer, a heavy metal guitarist with an Indianapolis, Indiana, band Iced Earth, who claimed he was a founding member of the Oath Keepers militia organization, admitted in court that he breached the Capitol on January 6, 2021, while wearing a tactical vest and armed with bear repellent, and “with the intent to interfere with Congress’ certification of the Electoral College results,” the Justice Department said in a press release.
He then pleaded guilty in August 2023 to two felony counts of obstruction of an official proceeding and entering and remaining in a restricted building with a dangerous weapon.
The Daily Beast and other news organizations reported in July 2021 that Schaffer had whined about conditions in an Indiana jail where he faced death threats and had feces thrown at him.
“My client, who is presumed innocent, has just gone through two months of hell where other people were throwing feces at him and urine at him and threatening his life in a horrible, horrible situation,” Schaffer’s attorney Marc J. Victor told a federal judge during her client’s detention hearing.
Schaffer said the experience was awful, but it did bring back fond memories of how concert crowds responded to his band’s music.
