Former Faulkner doc turned y'all-quedaist gets nine months for attacking cop during failed Jan. 6 coup

A federal judge yesterday sentenced Jacquelyn Starer, who once practiced at Jamaica Plain's Faulkner Hospital, to nine months in prison for not just storming into the Capitol back on Jan. 6, 2021 but for punching a DC cop in the head, cursing her and riling up other putschists in the Rotunda.

Starer, 70, of Ashland, and formerly on staff as an addiction-recovery specialist and ob/gyn at Faulkner and Brigham and Women's hospitals, was also sentenced to two years of probation.

Starer pleaded guilty in April to six misdemeanor charges: Entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.

Federal prosecutors had asked US District Court Judge Timothy Kelly to send Starer away for 27 months.

In her sentencing memorandum, prosecutor Sarah Rocha provided this account of what Starer - who she wrote had boasted to a friend before she went down to DC that she'd be wearing a knife-resistant top and carrying pepper spray - did at the Capitol:

Starer, a physician, entered the Capitol through the Rotunda Doors approximately fifteen minutes after they had been breached. She proceeded with rioters to the Rotunda and joined a crowd of shouting rioters attempting to move past police guarding a passageway to Speaker Pelosi’s office. Starer shoved rioters to get to the front of the crowd and pushed away a rioter attempting to hold her back. She then struck Officer M.B. with her closed fist. Starer retreated but then returned to the line and moved her hands toward Officer M.B. while yelling "Fucking bitch!" Her assault riled up the hostile crowd and contributed to the dangerousness of the situation. Starer posted a video and message on Parler forewarning future violence, commenting that rioters were being dispersed "For now."

Rocha continued:

The crowd became more agitated, and rioters pushed back against the police line. Officers attempted to hold the line and restrict the rioters from passing through the archway entrance to the area behind them. However, because of the push from the rioters, including Starer, the officers were backed up against the Western Rotunda staircase that led down to the Upper West Terrace Doors. Another rioter grabbed Officer M.B.'s baton, causing her to lose her balance and fall down the stairs. Starer was affected by the chemical irritant that was deployed during the altercation.

The cop did manage to land one punch on Starer before she fell down the stairs, however, according to an affidavit by an FBI agent on the case.

Rocha said 27 months in federal prison was warranted because Starer went beyond simply wandering around the Capitol during an attempt to overthrow the government to actively attacking a cop and whipping other putschists up:

Starer's actions on January 6 demonstrate the need for specific deterrence for this defendant. She ignored obvious red flags and signs of chaos, forced her way to the front of the crowd, and resisted efforts to calm the situation. Even after she struck Officer M.B. with her closed fist, she returned to the police line and assaulted her again while yelling an expletive and joined the crowd's push against the officers. Starer's lack of care for the safety of the officers and her fellow rioters is even more troubling because her conduct was entirely incongruent with her sworn oath as a physician to do no harm. She could have been expected to render aid, not be the person causing harm. In addition, in a message posted to Parler, she hinted at future violence, commenting that rioters were dispersed with tear gas "[f]or now."

Starer has yet to express remorse, and the Court should thus view any remorse she expresses at sentencing with skepticism.

Aw, come on, she wasn't that bad, her attorney, Robert Sheketoff of Boston, argued, suggesting Starer never intended to punch the cop, that she simply got caught up as a "fairly calm" situation inside the Rotunda turned chaotic through no fault of hers and that while Starer illegally entered the Rotunda and called the cop "a fucking bitch," she only punched her in the arm, not the head, and besides, the cop made contact first, by trying to push her away:

She got into a heated discussion with another protester pushing his arm down away from her as she felt he was invading her space. During this heated encounter with the other protester, Dr. Starer turned away from the line of officers and Officer M.B. was no longer in her field of vision. Officer M.B. pushed Dr. Starer in the back away from the line of officers. Dr. Starer reacted by turning and striking Officer M.B. in the arm and engaging in a brief confrontation with her during which she referred to M.B. as a "fucking bitch." Shortly after this situation in the Rotunda became more chaotic with pepper spray being deployed.

Starer, he said, was not part of any organized coup organization and simply traveled to DC to hear still President Trump make his case for why the election had been stolen - even if it hadn't.

And, he continued, Starer should be excused from striking a person who had just shoved her, or, at the least, not have her potential sentence increased for striking an "official" doing her job, because that's not why Starer hit the cop:

Dr. Starer had an immediate instinctive reaction to being pushed from behind by striking the person who pushed her. That person's status as a police officer was merely incidental; indeed Dr. Starer had just responded to an unwanted intrusion into her personal space by another protestor by physically grabbing his arms and pushing them down. Certainly she was inclined to react to unwanted physical contact with physical contact of her own regardless of the status of the other person involved. Moreover, during the ensuing confrontation with Officer M.B. Dr. Starer referred to her as a fucking bitch - a personal insult, not political or related to her status as a police officer.

And that, Sheketoff continued, makes all the difference: Had his client called the cop "traitor" or used a derogatory term for police officer, that might have been proof she hit the officer because she was an officer doing her job, rather than simply physically and verbally striking out against somebody who had shoved her.

Sheketoff asked for a sentence of 36 months probation, with the first part of that be served in home confinement, in part so Starer could care for her ailing husband - and continue with her own medical care and counseling for substance abuse, with which she helped rebuild her life and turn earlier struggles into a successful career helping women, at first with obstetric and gynecological issues, later with substance abuse.

He said Starer deeply regrets what she does and would apologize to the specific officers and others in the Capitol.

Dr. Starer recognizes that her actions that day were gravely serious, well beyond what she understood as the events unfolded, and she is determined to take responsibility and move forward with her life in a productive and positive way.

Government sentencing recommendation (1.3M PDF).
Defense sentencing recommendation (7.3M PDF).