WASHINGTON (AP) — A St. Louis Cardinals superfan known as Rally Runner was sentenced to 10 months in prison Thursday for storming the U.S. Capitol while dressed in the outfit he wore while jogging outside the baseball team’s stadium.
The Missouri man, who officially changed his name from Daniel Donnelly Jr. to Rally Runner, became fodder for a baseless conspiracy theory that government agencies secretly incited the Jan. 6, 2021 riot by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Tucker Carlson showed him a segment on his now-cancelled Fox News show in December 2021. Carlson showed an image of Rally Runner outside the Capitol — wearing red face paint and red clothing — as the TV host promoted conspiracy theories that unchecked “agent provocateurs” had infiltrated the mafia.
“Who is this person? Why hasn’t he been charged? That’s a very simple question,” 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 misdemeanor charge of civil disorder.
In addition to the 10-month prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb ordered him to pay a $3,000 fine and restitution.
An attorney for Rally Runner, Scott Rosenblum, said his client is “pleased to put this chapter behind him” and “looks forward to continuing his growth and contributing to society.”
In a letter to the judge filed with the 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 didn’t go to the Capitol with the intention of committing a crime; he went to participate in a protest,” she wrote. “But it turned into a violent insurrection.”
Rally Runner wore 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 wearing red clothes and red face paint.
Rally Runner told the FBI that he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and had taken one of the police shields that rioters were passing around. Video footage shows him among 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 spoke about his role in the attack on the Capitol in a Facebook video on January 6, 2021.
“We pushed them all the way through the doors. It worked until more officers showed up. I’m right up front and I went through those doors into the Capitol, and then reinforcements showed up,” he said in the video.
More than 1,400 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riots. More than 900 have been convicted and sentenced, with about two-thirds receiving prison sentences ranging from a few days to 22 years.
