Jan. 6 defendant who claimed he was a journalist gets convicted

A North Carolina man who claimed he was on duty as an independent journalist while storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was convicted of four misdemeanor counts including disorderly conduct in the Capitol, The Washington Post reported.

Stephen Horn, now 25 years old, scaled a statue inside the Capitol building and stormed then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office during the insurrection. Though Horn was not assigned by any media outlet to cover the rally Jan. 6, Horn’s attorneys argued that his intent to dispense recordings he took during the Capitol riot classified him as a journalist.

But more than two hours of video footage from a camera inside a helmet Horn wore that day revealed he seldom asked questions to people that day, prosecutors said, arguing he did not act like a reporter.

Horn traveled to Washington for the rally of former President Trump in a bus of Trump supporters but has said he does not align with conservative politics, nor has he ever supported the former president.

In a video that was posted and has since been taken down from Facebook, Horn can also be heard taking part in a chant, yelling “U.S.A.” alongside others in the Capitol, according to FBI agents.

“I told the same truth to the jury that I posted along with my video on January 7th: ‘I did not enter the capitol building as part of the protest, or for cheap thrills, but to accurately document and record a significant event which was taking place,'” Horn wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, soon after he was found guilty.

Horn’s sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 10, 2024, and he faces up to a year in prison on his most serious charge.