Federal prosecutors seek jail time for Ross woman involved in Capitol riot
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Federal prosecutors argue that a Ross woman’s lack of remorse and her purposeful lies to the FBI about her role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol warrant 14 days of incarceration followed by three years of probation.
But Jennifer Heinl’s defense attorney said his client has already been punished for her actions that day, including being fired from her job as a VA Pittsburgh nurse, losing friends and having her husband divorce her.
“While these adverse consequences are not formal, they are real and have severely impacted Ms. Heinl’s everyday life,” defense attorney Martin Dietz wrote in a sentencing brief. “She is extremely remorseful, embarrassed and ashamed.”
Dietz asked for probation, noting that prosecutors initially indicated they would not seek a term of incarceration. Dietz said prosecutors changed their stance after a new assistant U.S. attorney joined the case.
Heinl, 44, was supposted to be sentenced via video conference by U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan on Tuesday. However, on Monday, the hearing was postponed by the court until June 8. Heinl pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building on Nov. 2.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of six months behind bars.
Heinl, who has no criminal history, was charged March 18, 2021, with entering the Capitol building, disorderly conduct and violent entry.
Investigators said Heinl traveled to Washington, D.C., with Kenneth Grayson, of Bridgeville, who also faces charges.
The two of them attended the rally at the Ellipse that afternoon and then walked to the Capitol Building. The government said after they entered the building around 2:20 p.m., Heinl walked to the Crypt area and Rotunda and spent 47 minutes inside.
“Perhaps most conspicuously, she appears to be smiling as she entered and gave a fellow rioter a high five,” the prosecution wrote in its brief. “Her mannerisms at the time she entered the Capitol, as captured on video, are the best evidence of her state of mind at the time, and those mannerisms strongly indicate that she did not fear for her safety and enter the Capitol for that reason, as she told the FBI, but rather because she wanted to participate and join her fellow rioters inside the Capitol.”
Prosecutors said that when she was first asked in a phone call about Grayson’s involvement after he was charged, Heinl lied and said she was not with him. Evidence showed otherwise, including that she traveled to Washington with him and stayed in the same hotel suite.
“Heinl has also consistently demonstrated a lack of sincere remorse,” the government wrote. “She has consistently attempted to minimize and rationalize her conduct.”
Dietz said in his sentencing brief that Heinl is remorseful for her conduct that day, and several people echoed that in letters of support to the court.
“The government is simply wrong,” Dietz wrote.
Dietz said Heinl didn’t lie to the FBI during her first call with investigators. Heinl’s estranged husband works in law enforcement, and Dietz wrote that she was familiar with the agents in Pittsburgh. When she received a phone call from someone purporting to be an FBI agent, Dietz said, she didn’t recognize the person’s name and thought it was someone trying to get information from her.
“Ms. Heinl’s explanation is credible,” Dietz wrote. “It is respectfully submitted that the circumstances of the FBI’s initial interactions with Ms. Heinl were so outside the usual course of FBI business that her belief that someone was reaching out to her to determine if she was cooperating against Grayson was credible.”
Dietz said that once Heinl realized it was the FBI on the call, she agreed to be interviewed and fully cooperated with investigators.
Court filings say Heinl was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after she was attacked in 2012 by two patients while working as a nurse at Western Psychiatric Hospital and Clinic in Pittsburgh. Dietz said the attack led to emotional and physical trauma that affected her personality.
“It sometimes affects the way she responds to stressful situations, and it sometimes impacts the way people view her responses or reactions during stressful situations,” her attorney wrote.
About a dozen members of Heinl’s family and friends submitted letters to the court, calling her a hard-working, devoted and caring mother of two who has always placed the needs of others ahead of herself.
“I implore you to weigh her character, her passionate patriotism and intelligence against a brief action that could derail her lifetime of commitments to her family and community,” wrote Kelly Kerr, who worked with Heinl at VA Pittsburgh. “Please don’t allow this event to tarnish her record and kill her spirit.”
Other colleagues described Heinl as compassionate and kind, and said she worked hard to improve the life of the veterans she treated.
“She is extremely remorseful and understands that it was an isolated act of poor judgment … which she highly regrets,” wrote Kimberly Lemaster, also a nurse.