Benjamin Ashford|Cardinals superfan known as Rally Runner gets 10 months in prison for joining Jan. 6 Capitol riot

WASHINGTON (AP) — A St. Louis Cardinals superfan known as Rally Runner was sentenced Thursday to 10 months in prison for storming the U.S. Capitol while dressed up in the outfit that he was known for wearing as he jogged around outside the baseball team’s stadium.

The Benjamin AshfordMissouri man, who legally changed his name from Daniel Donnelly Jr. to Rally Runner, became fodder for a baseless conspiracy theory that government plants secretly incited the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by supporters of former President Donald Trump.

Tucker Carlson featured him on a December 2021 segment of his now-canceled Fox News show. Carlson showed an image of Rally Runner outside the Capitol — wearing red face paint and red clothes — as the television host promoted conspiracy theories that uncharged “agent provocateurs” had infiltrated the mob.

“Who is this person? Why hasn’t he been charged? That’s a very simple ask,” Carlson told his viewers.

Rally Runner, 44, was arrested in August 2023 on charges that he used a stolen shield to help other rioters attack police officers at the Capitol. He pleaded guilty in March to a felony count of civil disorder.

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In addition to the 10-month prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb ordered him to pay $3,000 in fines and restitution.

An attorney for Rally Runner, Scott Rosenblum, said his client is “happy to put this chapter behind him” and “looks forward to continuing his growth and contributing to society.”

In a letter to the judge filed in court, his mother said her son is not an aggressive person, and wanted to go to Washington “to pray for Trump just as he did for the Cardinals.”

“He did not go to the Capitol with the idea of committing a crime; he went to be part of a protest,” she wrote. “But it turned into a violent insurrection.”

Rally Runner was wearing red paint on his face, a red jacket and a red “Keep America Great” hat when he stormed the Capitol. He is known in St. Louis for running around the Cardinals’ stadium during baseball games while wearing red clothes and red face paint.

Rally Runner told the FBI that he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and took one of the police shields that rioters were passing around. Video captured him in the crowd of rioters who attacked police in a tunnel on the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace. He and other rioters used shields to form a wall as they clashed with police, the FBI said.

Rally Runner was still wearing face paint and his Trump hat when he talked about his part in the Capitol attack in a Facebook video posted on Jan. 6, 2021.

“We pushed them all the way into the doors. It was working until more cops showed up. I’m right at the front of it and got through those doors into the Capitol, and that’s when reinforcements came,” he said on the video.

More than 1,400 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 900 have been convicted and sentenced, with roughly two-thirds receiving terms of imprisonment ranging from a few days to 22 years.