Capitol rioter with middle-finger tattoo takes felony plea deal calling for 51 to 63 months in prison

A Michigan man pleaded guilty today to assaulting law enforcement officials and causing injuries that sent at least one to the hospital during the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Justin Jersey, 32, of Flint, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to a felony count of “assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers, inflicting bodily injury, according to the plea agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ). The charges against Jersey carry up 20 years imprisonment, but an estimated federal guidelines range of 51-to-63 months is referenced in the plea deal.

Jersey was part of the mob that clashed with police officers late in the afternoon of January 6 at the Archway leading into the Capitol Building from the Lower West Terrace. Jersey was “carrying a large, gnarled stick…sprang at the line of officers charged at one…grabbing his face, and knocking him to the ground,” the FBI reported.

“As a result of the attack, the officer sustained serious physical injuries, including a laceration to his head, and bruising and abrasions to his body. Jersey, meanwhile, was able to grab another baton and used it to strike other officers in the Archway.”

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Jersey was identified initially with the help of a distinctively tattooed obscenity on his middle finger which was visible as he swung at officers, as reported last December at Raw Story.

According to that report, Jersey “was shown attacking officers while wearing a University of Michigan sweatshirt in video circulated by the FBI over the summer. At the time, he was listed as No. 106 on the FBI’s Capitol wanted page.

"Jersey was friends with another Capitol riot defendant, Trevor Brown, and Jersey’s girlfriend publicly tagged the two men in a post about Jan. 6 on Facebook," the Huffington Post's Ryan Reilly reports. "Online sleuths found an Instagram image of Jersey that showed what appeared to be a 'F*CK YOU' tattoo on his left middle finger — which can also be spotted in images of him swinging a stick at officers — erasing any doubt about the identification."

Reilly added on Twitter, "Tattoos are the unsung heroes of the Jan. 6 probe, probably followed closely by freckles and moles."