A federal jury delivered a guilty verdict against Rebecca Lavrenz, a 71-year-old Colorado woman, in connection to her role in breaching the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Lavrenz, who is known on social media as the “J6 Praying Grandma,” faced four misdemeanor charges, including entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly conduct, and parading or picketing in the Capitol.
Lavrenz’s arrest occurred on December 19, 2022, in Denver, following tips received by the FBI implicating her involvement in the Capitol breach. During her interview with federal authorities, Lavrenz admitted to spending approximately 10 minutes inside the Capitol building. Surveillance footage corroborated her account, showing Lavrenz in a red scarf among the crowd of protestors.
Lavrenz insists that she was only at the Capitol to pray, telling The Denver Gazette,
The whole reason I went to the Capitol was to pray. I didn’t get into this for myself, I was there to stand up for my country. God led me to go there and into the building to stand up for my First Amendment rights to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Lavrenz provided testimony for five hours on Monday, following which the jury commenced deliberations at 4:45 p.m., adjourned at 5:30 p.m., and resumed deliberations throughout Tuesday, Wednesday, and most of Thursday. Lavrenz mentioned that she was called back multiple times to clarify certain points. The final verdict was announced late Thursday afternoon after nearly 26 hours of deliberation by the 12-member jury.
Lavrenz said:
The deliberation was good because obviously at least one person on the jury was fighting for me, and many people have been convicted in the first hour.