Ryan Nichols

Public January 6 profile · ready to claim

James Matthew Horning

Pardoned January 6 defendant

James Matthew Horning profile photograph from NPR's January 6 archiveDocumented editorial-use image
NPR's The Capitol Charges; database photo credit: Department of Justice (all named credit exceptions excluded) Published for archive identification and reporting; reuse rights are not represented as cleared.Image source →

James Matthew Horning is a 44-year-old man from New Holland, Ohio, a small Pickaway County village of a few hundred people, whose social media posts about January 6, 2021 became a central piece of evidence in his own federal case. The record is direct on this one. Horning traveled to Washington, posted photos and messages documenting his presence at and inside the Capitol Building on January 6, and those posts became part of the evidence supporting his arrest in February 2021. He pleaded guilty to five counts: knowingly entering restricted Capitol grounds, disorderly conduct that impeded government business, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, demonstrating in Capitol buildings, and obstruction of Congress. That last charge, obstruction of Congress, is a felony, and it is the most serious count in his case. This profile is not going to pretend otherwise or bury it. What the public record reviewed here does not show is a sentencing outcome; national and Ohio coverage of Horning's case confirms the guilty plea but the sentence itself was not confirmed in sources available for this page, and that gap is marked NEEDS AUTHENTICATION below. Here is the part of the record that matters for a village the size of New Holland: one man's federal felony case, built substantially on his own public posts, became the entire story Ohio news outlets told about the town for a news cycle. Small places absorb these cases differently than cities do. Everyone in New Holland already knew who Horning was before a national outlet ever printed the name. On January 20, 2025, President Trump's clemency proclamation covered convictions tied to January 6 cases nationwide. Whether that reached Horning's specific obstruction conviction has not been separately confirmed here, and this page states that plainly instead of assuming it. James Horning has not claimed this profile. If his side of events, or an update on the case's final outcome, needs to be added, that costs him nothing. CASE RECORD: New Holland, Ohio (Pickaway County). Case No. 1:21-cr-00275, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Arrested February 26, 2021. Indicted April 2, 2021. Pleaded guilty October 6, 2022 to five counts including felony obstruction of an official proceeding. Source: NBC4 Columbus reporting; DOJ defendant index. NEEDS AUTHENTICATION: sentencing outcome and post-January 20, 2025 clemency status not confirmed in sources reviewed. This profile is unclaimed. If this is you, or your family, claiming it is free, forever.

The case file

On the record

Case number
1:21-cr-275
Court
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
Disposition
Arrested 2/26/21. Initial appearance held 3/4/21. Indicted 4/2/21. Arraigned 4/30/21 where defendant pleaded not guilty to counts 1 -5. Pleaded guilty 10/6/22.
Arrested
February 26, 2021
Plea
October 6, 2022

Charges

  • Knowingly Entering or Remaining in any Restricted Building or Grounds Without Lawful Authority; Disorderly Conduct Which Impedes the Conduct of Government Business; Violent Entry and Disorderly Conduct on Capitol Grounds; Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in the Capitol Buildings; Obstruction of Justice/Congress

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Connection to United States v. Nichols

James Matthew Horning appears in the record of United States v. Nichols. The full case — timeline, people, documents — is public and free.

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