‘America will be a s—-show’: Jan. 6 couple who bragged about playing a ‘key role’ in riot by fighting cops ‘on the front lines’ get prison time

A Texas couple who bragged online they “were the first group to storm the capitol” and “fought cops” during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack are going to prison for their roles in the insurrection.

Mark Middleton, 55, and his wife, Jalise Middleton, 54, learned their fates this week. Mark Middleton was sentenced to 30 months — or 2 1/2 years — in prison, and his wife received a 20-month sentence — more than a year and a half. They will also have to pay $2,000 in fines, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a press release.

They were convicted in February of assaulting officers, civil disorder, trespassing, and disorderly conduct. A previous conviction of obstruction of an official proceeding was dismissed in light of the Supreme Court ruling in Fischer v. U.S.

In their sentencing memo, prosecutors hammered the couple for lying under oath at trial about their conduct on Jan. 6. Prosecutors recommended each spend 90 months in prison for their “total lack of remorse.” The government said the couple planned for violence and talked about bringing weapons that day, including chemical spray and electroshock devices.

Mark Middleton weighed in on social media before the riots, posting, “No matter the final outcome from this point forward America will be a s—-show. Our country as we knew it is gone. We will have to either have a bloody civil war or Texas will need to secede from the union to at least save us. Once we leave if other states attempted to secede we will have to help them.”

In response to a post calling for prayers and asserting there will be “very little peace moving forward,” Jalise said in a Jan. 4, 2021, post, saying, “Sadly, you are correct, either way, war is coming.” The following day, in response to a message asking how she felt about what was happening the next day, Jalise responded, “PUMPED. A– whoopin comin’! We’re done.”

Jalise Middleton’s lawyer said in her sentencing memo that she is remorseful, describing her as a “non-violent, well-meaning participant in J6.”

“Ms. Middleton is not the demon the government makes her out to be,” attorney Kira Anne West wrote in the memo. “J6 is a stain on our history, and Ms. Middleton does not mean in any way to minimize the threat to democracy that ensued that day. Yet Ms. Middleton, a person who is peaceful, hardworking and concerned about America’s future, came to DC to protest peacefully what she and her husband believed to be a stolen election. She had never been to a protest before and had no idea what to expect. As this Court heard during this trial and other trials, the protest turned into an unmanageable mob and riot.”

As Law&Crime reported, the couple got to the front of a group of rioters pressing against police guarding the Capitol building. After officers ordered the crowd to leave the area, Mark Middleton said, “Why are you all doing this? Quit being traitors,” and pushed against barricades and the police line with his body, authorities said. He was caught on police body cameras yelling at the cops, “f— you!” when they told him to get back, court documents said.

He grabbed an officer’s arm and pulled the officer over the barricades and toward the rioting mob. His wife repeatedly struck that officer — one of her blows with her long fingernails adorned with a large diamond ring scratched an officer in the face, authorities said.

Another officer who went in to assist his colleague being assaulted by the Middletons was himself assaulted. Mark Middleton turned his flagpole into a club and struck the officer in the head with it, prosecutors said.

The melee ended when officers sprayed the couple in the face with mace, and they retreated from the police line into the mob of rioters, all of their actions caught on police body camera footage, court documents said.

Like many other Jan. 6 participants, the couple bragged on social media about their “key role in helping to breach the barricades by fighting officers,” officials said.

Mark Middleton posted to Facebook while he was in the middle of committing his federal crimes — “We are on the front lines,” authorities said. “We helped push down the barriers. Jalise and I got pepper sprayed, clubbed, and tear gassed. We had to retreat, but more patriots pushed forward, and they’re taking back our house. They’ve got the giant flag up on the upper terrace up there. No more fooling around! Jalise and I gotta go back to the hotel and try to recoup and change, get dry clothes on. Make America great again! Freedom!”

Jalise Middleton said on Facebook that she and her husband “fought cops,” were “on the front lines,” and ultimately got “bruised and pepper sprayed,” prosecutors said.

In a post on the evening of Jan. 6, Jalise Middleton said, “Patriots busted through barrierers [sic] to get in Capital [sic]. Best I know there was no ‘looting or rioting.’ We just sent a warning that we are serious,” court documents said.

“Patriots don’t stoop low like Antifa,” she went on, according to court documents. The fixation on Antifa continued on Jan. 7: “Patriots surged, just to show strength, Antifa went in to make ya look bad.”

They were arrested on April 21, 2021, in Texas, after the FBI began receiving tips from people who’d seen their Facebook posts, one of whom was described in court documents as the parent of a girl who was an acquaintance of Jalise Middleton, prosecutors said.

In June 2023, their request to have their case tossed unless or until former President Donald Trump was prosecuted in the insurrection was denied.

“Defendants argue that they are being selectively targeted, as ‘[s]imilar and far more serious instances of alleged criminal conduct that took place on January 6, 2021 have not been prosecuted,” they argued in court documents. “In particular, the defendants note, former President Donald Trump has not yet been charged with any crimes for his actions related to the attack on the Capitol.

“There is absolutely no justification for the very serious charges for which Mark Middleton and Jalise have been indicted,” the defendants complain, “when there has not been a single charged indicted against Donald Trump for the events of January 6, 2021.”

Trump was indicted for his alleged role in Jan. 6 two months later, in August 2023. The case against the former president is still pending.

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