Josh Lollar

After the rally, Joshua returned to his car, and soon got out and followed a crowd headed toward the Capitol.  That’s when the things got ugly.  Police turned a peaceful demonstration into a brawl using pepper spray, tear gas, flash bangs and rubber bullets. The protestors pushed back.  Joshua and many others, as they’ve reported, considered it an act of self-defense.

He made his way into the capitol building but didn’t stay long.  Joshua left at around 3:30pm and headed back to his car.  But during the fray between police and protestors, Joshua recorded and uploaded videos and picturesof the day, along with his running commentary.  Within two hours, one of his Facebook “friends” contacted the FBI and fingered him as the man in the pictures.

On January 11^th, just 5 days after the rally, Joshua was back in Spring when the police and FBI came knocking. More civil that many interactions, perhaps due to his service and disability, they only questioned him… for now.  Four days after the interview, he was arrested and charged on 7 counts; knowingly entering in a restricted building or grounds, impeding or disrupting official functions, obstructing or impeding a law enforcement officer during civil disorder, obstructing federally protected functions and last, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.  If convicted on all counts he could potentially be locked up for most of his natural life.

Joshua originally pleaded not guilty to the 7 charges stack up against him, and requested a jury trial in 2021. After a series of negotiations between Prosecutors and Joshua’s defense attorney, Brian McDaniel, Joshua changed his plea to guilty to obstructing the certification of the 2020 election. With that, the DOJ dropped the counts for assaulting an officer and disorderly conduct in exchange for the plea.  McDaniel knew from experience that the jury pool in D.C., a city that votes 98% Democrat, Joshua would not get a fair trial. So, it was in the hands of the judge.

At the trial, Joshua’s attorney was allowed to offer character witnesses.  His father, Grover Lollar spoke about the injuries his son suffered in Iraq and the trauma he has endured since returning home.“Joshua’s had it tough since he came back from the war, and just as he was getting better, this happened,” Mr. Lollar went on to ask for a sentence of home imprisonment.  This would allow Joshua to face his mental health issues with his parents and children, who were dependent on his disability payments from the Veterans Administration.

Grover Lollar had this to say after the trial, “He’s not a domestic terrorist or insurrectionist, he went for a rally. They (police) just rushed down there, and he got swept along.”, he said, “He’s a good man. He’s not a criminal.”

Joshua showed remorse but U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee, was not moved.  She agreed that Joshua’s military service was a consideration in her sentencing, but that it cut both ways. Because of his trauma of his war wounds, mentally and physically, she said he “was a particularly vulnerable individual … susceptible to calls to act” by former President Donald Trump.She gave him a prison sentence of 31 months for attempting to stop the electoral vote count, which seems to many like political persecution.  After all, the Portland Antifa protestors who tried to burn down a federal courthouse got off with a slap on the wrist by comparison.  In fact, almost half of them had the charges completely dismissed.  To add insult to injury, because Joshua was found guilty, the VA has taken away his disability payments. He can no longer pay his Child Support to his ex-wife who cares for them.