'QAnon Shaman' Wants His Horned Headgear And Spear Back; DOJ Denies Request

Jacob Chansley , also known as the “QAnon Shaman,” has asked the government to return the horned headdress and flagpole spear he sported during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot in Washington, but the Department of Justice on Friday turned him down.

Chansley, one of hundreds of people sentenced for their roles in the U.S. Capitol attack, publicly called to get his headgear back at the start of the year and filed a motion in May for the return of property seized following his 2021 arrest.

In a court filing, the DOJ acknowledged that Chansley had asked for “a spear and a helmet used to project strength during the assault on the U.S. Capitol,” but said it wants to hold the items in case he challenges his sentence after a recent Supreme Court decision limiting obstruction charges against Jan. 6 rioters, NBC News reported .

Chansley pleaded guilty to felony obstruction in 2021 and was released early from prison in May 2023. He has two years remaining in his court-supervised release.

Jacob Chansley, also known as the "QAnon Shaman," screams "freedom" inside the U.S. Senate chamber after the Capitol was breached by a mob during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington.

“It’s rather upsetting that they’re not doing what the government is supposed to do and returning the property,” Chansley, who last year expressed interest in running for Congress, told The Daily Beast in January.

“They gave my mom the car back shortly after the investigation was over, but they refused to give me my headdress and my staff and my phone and my pants,” he said at the time. “So what’s up with that?”

Prosecutors on Friday wrote that the “government should and must retain actual evidence of a crime where, as here, the defendant pled guilty to a crime that he may contest” due to the Supreme Court ruling, CNN noted .

“The government would like to ensure finality in the appellate process in this and other cases,” they said. “The government’s request to continue to hold the property as evidence until such finality in the criminal prosecution is assured is thus appropriate.”