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Derrick Evans

Pardoned January 6 defendant; former West Virginia delegate

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Derrick Evans is a former West Virginia House of Delegates member from Wayne County whose January 6 record includes an early arrest, changing charging documents, a one-count felony plea, a three-month sentence, a full presidential pardon, and later public statements about the prosecution and its effect on his family. This profile separates government allegations, admitted conduct, sentencing records, executive clemency, and Evans’s own later account. **Case overview** Evans was arrested in West Virginia on January 8, 2021. The Justice Department’s initial public announcement, issued the next day, described two misdemeanor allegations: knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. That announcement expressly stated that the charging allegations were not findings of guilt. The case proceeded as *United States v. Evans*, No. `1:21-cr-00337-RCL`, before U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth. Later charging documents changed the case. On March 18, 2022, Evans pleaded guilty to one felony count of civil disorder under 18 U.S.C. § 231(a)(3). The official DOJ plea release says he entered the Capitol at approximately 2:40 p.m., walked through the Rotunda and Statuary Hall, and left approximately ten minutes later. Those descriptions are attributed to the plea and government record. **Sentencing record** The government’s June 15, 2022 sentencing memorandum requested three months of incarceration, three years of supervised release, $2,000 restitution, a fine, and the mandatory $100 special assessment. It also set out the prosecution’s interpretation of Evans’s livestream and conduct. Those characterizations are the government’s sentencing position, not independent editorial conclusions. Judge Lamberth sentenced Evans on June 22, 2022 to three months of imprisonment and 36 months of supervised release. Docket-index and contemporaneous sentencing sources report $2,000 restitution, a $2,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment. The native signed judgment remains a capture priority so every financial term can be confirmed directly from the court’s own PDF. At sentencing, Evans accepted responsibility and described his conduct as a serious mistake. After completing the prison term, he publicly criticized the broader January 6 prosecutions. Both statements are preserved as his attributed words at different points in time; the archive does not use either one to make a moral judgment about him. **Full pardon** President Donald J. Trump’s January 20, 2025 proclamation commuted the sentences of fourteen specifically named people and granted full, complete, and unconditional pardons to the other covered convicted January 6 defendants. Evans was not on the fourteen-person commutation list and therefore falls within the full-pardon provision. The DOJ Office of the Pardon Attorney separately lists `EVANS, DERRICK` among people who requested and were issued a January 6 pardon certificate. A pardon is executive clemency. This archive preserves the historical plea and sentence while also accurately recording the later pardon. Neither the conviction nor the pardon is treated as proof of Evans’s moral character. **Firsthand post-pardon interview** On February 14, 2025, the *Better for America* podcast published a long-form interview with Evans and a written transcript. Evans discussed the FBI arrest at his home, the evolution of the charges, plea negotiations, incarceration, effects on his family, his view of Biden-era DOJ conduct, and the meaning of the pardon. These are clearly labeled firsthand statements. The transcript verifies that Evans made the statements; it does not independently prove every factual claim about agents, prosecutors, plea discussions, custody conditions, or political motivation. **Later political activity and an unresolved 2026 ballot-status conflict** The Federal Election Commission retains a 2026 West Virginia First Congressional District candidate record for Jonathan Derrick Evans, with a statement of candidacy filed June 20, 2025 and campaign-finance activity through June 30, 2026. His campaign website also continued to promote a congressional campaign. However, certified May 2026 primary reporting lists Carol Miller and Larry Jackson as the Republican candidates and does not list Evans on the ballot. The archive does not infer why. A primary election-administration record, withdrawal filing, court order, or official disqualification notice is still needed to resolve the reason for the mismatch between the FEC record, campaign website, and final ballot. **Quick facts** - Full name used in the federal election record: Jonathan Derrick Evans - Federal case: *United States v. Evans*, No. `1:21-cr-00337-RCL` - Court: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia - Judge: Royce C. Lamberth - Arrest: January 8, 2021 - Guilty plea: March 18, 2022 - Offense of conviction: civil disorder, 18 U.S.C. § 231(a)(3) - Sentence date: June 22, 2022 - Sentence: three months’ imprisonment and 36 months’ supervised release; contemporaneous records also report $2,000 restitution, a $2,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment - Clemency: full January 6 pardon under the January 20, 2025 proclamation - Pardon certificate record: listed by the DOJ Office of the Pardon Attorney - Verified post-pardon interview: *Better for America*, February 14, 2025 **Was Evans convicted of the two offenses listed in the original January 2021 announcement?** No. Those were complaint-stage allegations. The preserved final offense of conviction is one felony count of civil disorder under 18 U.S.C. § 231(a)(3). **Did the sentencing memorandum establish every disputed claim in it?** No. A sentencing memorandum is advocacy submitted by a party. It is an important primary source for the government’s position, requested sentence, cited evidence, and procedural history, but its characterizations must remain attributed to the prosecution. **Does the pardon erase the historical court record?** The proclamation granted executive clemency. This archive records the pardon without rewriting the earlier plea and judgment as though they never existed, and it does not claim a judicial vacatur without a court order. **What does the 2025 interview establish?** It establishes that Evans gave a detailed firsthand account and identifies what he said. Individual claims about the arrest, charging decisions, plea negotiations, custody, and political motivation still require comparison with native court, FBI, Bureau of Prisons, and attorney records. **Related records and evidence submission** The original DOJ charging announcement also addressed [Adam Christian Johnson](/case/people/adam-johnson) and [Jacob Anthony Chansley](/case/people/jacob-chansley), although each had a separate case. The pardon record connects Evans to [Donald J. Trump](/case/people/donald-j-trump). Explore source relationships and timeline connections in the [J6 Case Nexus](/case/nexus). Have the native judgment, plea agreement, statement of offense, sentencing transcript, Bureau of Prisons records, pardon certificate, authenticated livestream, or a photograph with documented provenance and reuse permission? [Submit it for verification](/submit) with the source, date, and chain-of-custody information. No portrait is assigned because the archive has not established a lawful reuse basis for the available press photographs.