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Billy Knutson

Pardoned January 6 defendant

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Billy Knutson is a working musician from Mitchell, South Dakota, pardoned in 2025 after a January 6 misdemeanor case. DOCUMENTED INFERENCE, from secondary reporting we have not independently confirmed: Billy Knutson was originally from Mason City, Iowa, before settling in South Dakota. FACT (Billboard, Newsweek, KELOLAND, DOJ): he is a rapper who releases and sells his own music, performing as "Playboythebeast," including on his own YouTube and Parler accounts. That handle is his own self-published account. FACT: on January 6, 2021, he entered the Capitol through a broken window at about 3:30 p.m. and recorded footage that later became evidence in his own case. FACT: he pleaded guilty on April 13, 2022, to a single misdemeanor, entering and remaining in a restricted building, and on August 26, 2022, was sentenced to six months of incarceration, one year of supervised release, and $500 in restitution. DOCUMENTED INFERENCE: secondary reporting states he was released from federal custody on March 31, 2023, on schedule with his plea agreement, and returned home to his family in Mitchell; this archive has not independently verified his release date against the docket. People searching Billy Knutson usually land on the rap-video headlines first. Those are real, but they are not the whole man: court records describe someone who did his time, kept making music, and went back to raising his kids in South Dakota. NPR's national January 6 database lists a North Carolina address in one field, which does not match every South Dakota news account of his arrest and sentencing; this archive keeps South Dakota, sourced by KELOLAND and the DOJ record, unless a family member confirms otherwise. WHERE THINGS STAND: plain English, this was a misdemeanor, he served the sentence the court gave him, and he came home. President Trump's January 20, 2025 clemency for January 6 defendants applied to Billy Knutson. CASE RECORD Case No. 1:22-cr-31 (initially 1:22-mj-6). U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Complaint 1/10/2022. Arrested 1/12/2022. Pleaded guilty 4/13/22. Sentenced 8/26/22: 6 months incarceration, 1 year supervised release, $500 restitution. Clemency 1/20/2025. This profile is unclaimed. If this is you, or your family, claiming it is free, forever.