Nathaniel DeGrave J6 Case Record: Plea, Reported Sentence and Full Pardon

By the Real Ryan Nichols Editorial Team

Nathaniel J. DeGrave’s public January 6 record includes an initial federal case, a later superseding case, a guilty plea to two felony counts, a reported May 2023 sentence and a full January 2025 pardon.

Those stages are related, but they are not interchangeable.

An FBI affidavit states probable-cause allegations. An indictment states charges. A plea agreement and statement of offense identify the offenses and facts DeGrave admitted. Contemporary news reports describe the sentence, but the controlling signed judgment has not yet been captured. The pardon is an act of executive clemency, not a trial acquittal or an appellate reversal.

This article keeps those legal categories separate and identifies what is verified, what remains attributed and what evidence is still needed.

Verified quick facts

Field	Sourced record
Full name	Nathaniel J. DeGrave, also publicly identified as Nathan DeGrave
Public profile	Nathaniel J. DeGrave J6 profile
Initial case	United States v. DeGrave, D.D.C. No. 1:21-cr-00090-PLF
Superseding case	United States v. Sandlin et al., D.D.C. No. 1:21-cr-00088-DLF
Judges	Judge Paul L. Friedman in the initial case; Judge Dabney L. Friedrich at plea and sentencing
Arrest	January 28, 2021
Plea	June 27, 2022
Plea offenses	Conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 1512(k); assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers under 18 U.S.C. § 111(a)(1)
Reported sentence date	May 10, 2023
Reported sentence	37 months’ imprisonment; 36 months’ supervised release; $25,000 fine; $2,000 restitution
Clemency	Full pardon effective January 20, 2025
Verified portrait	None assigned; provenance and lawful reuse rights have not been established

The initial case and the superseding indictment

The archive’s captured FBI Statement of Facts and initial indictment identify DeGrave’s original District of Columbia matter as 1:21-cr-00090-PLF.

The 10-page FBI filing is a probable-cause affidavit. Its descriptions of DeGrave’s alleged conduct are the government’s allegations at that stage. They are not treated here as trial findings or as a judgment about his character.

The four-page initial indictment likewise records charges, not a verdict.

A 15-page superseding indictment, filed September 15, 2021, joined DeGrave’s prosecution with Ronald “Ronnie” Sandlin in case 1:21-cr-00088-DLF. The superseding indictment expanded the charging record, but it did not establish guilt by itself.

The initial and superseding case numbers both belong in a complete procedural history. Listing only one can make later plea and sentencing records difficult to follow.

What DeGrave admitted in the plea record

On June 27, 2022, DeGrave pleaded guilty to two felony counts:

• conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, under 18 U.S.C. § 1512(k); and
• assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers, under 18 U.S.C. § 111(a)(1).

The captured plea agreement is 14 pages. It identifies the two plea counts, contains signatures, records a cooperation obligation and states that the government would seek dismissal of the remaining counts at sentencing if the court accepted the agreement.

The captured statement of offense is 13 pages. It is the parties’ stipulated factual basis for the plea.

These records are more authoritative for the plea than the broader complaint-stage allegations because they identify the offenses and facts admitted as part of the agreement. They still do not answer every later question. The signed judgment is needed to verify the final count-by-count disposition and all financial or supervision terms directly.

DOJ’s June 27, 2022 announcement confirms the plea date, the two offenses, the arrest date and the stated cooperation agreement. Its descriptions of the underlying conduct remain attributed prosecution characterizations rather than independent archive findings.

The reported May 2023 sentence

Contemporary Associated Press reporting published by the Las Vegas Review-Journal places sentencing on May 10, 2023.

CBS News reporting describes the following terms:

• 37 months of imprisonment;
• 36 months of supervised release;
• a $25,000 fine; and
• $2,000 restitution.

The archive uses May 10 as the structured sentencing date because it is supported by the Associated Press account. CBS’s relative weekday wording was not used to create a different date.

The sentence remains labeled reported because the signed judgment and sentencing transcript have not been captured. No additional assessment, condition, custody date or dismissal detail is inferred.

That distinction matters. A news report can support a careful interim summary, but the judgment controls the legal terms.

What the January 2025 pardon did

President Donald J. Trump’s January 20, 2025 clemency proclamation created two different categories:

• commutations to time served for fourteen named people; and
• full, complete and unconditional pardons for other covered people convicted of January 6 offenses.

DeGrave was not one of the fourteen named commutation recipients. His record therefore falls under the proclamation’s general full-pardon provision.

The pardon changed the legal record through executive clemency. This article does not describe it as a trial acquittal, an appellate holding or a finding that every prior allegation was false. It also does not treat the plea, sentence or pardon as proof of DeGrave’s moral character.

Firsthand-source material, with clear limits

The public archive preserves DeGrave’s letters concerning pretrial detention conditions as firsthand accounts. Descriptions of isolation, lockdowns, medical care or treatment are attributed to him unless separately established by court findings or independent records.

A publisher listing dated January 29, 2025 identifies DeGrave as the guest in a roughly 80-minute episode of The Connect with Johnny Mitchell. The listing says the discussion covered January 6, his arrest, imprisonment and the pardon.

The native audio, a complete transcript, exact quotations and speaker-level timestamps have not been captured. The archive therefore treats the listing as a firsthand-source lead and does not repeat its promotional title as an established factual conclusion.

Seven-event timeline

• January 28, 2021: DeGrave is arrested.
• February 5, 2021: An initial indictment is filed.
• September 15, 2021: A superseding indictment is filed in the Sandlin–DeGrave case.
• June 27, 2022: DeGrave pleads guilty to two felony counts.
• May 10, 2023: The reported sentence is imposed.
• January 20, 2025: The clemency proclamation grants DeGrave a full pardon.
• January 29, 2025: A post-pardon interview is published.

Ryan’s Take

This site’s editorial position is that January 6 defendants deserve humane treatment, complete records and close scrutiny of Biden-era DOJ charging, detention and sentencing practices.

That scrutiny is strongest when the record is exact.

Support for DeGrave does not require turning allegations into findings, or pretending that admitted facts do not exist. It requires refusing to reduce a person to a prosecution headline while preserving the filings, plea terms, firsthand accounts, sentence, clemency and unresolved questions in their correct categories.

The next accountability step is documentary: obtain the signed judgment, confirm the final disposition of every count, preserve the sentencing record and custody chronology, and capture DeGrave’s own complete words with enough context for readers to evaluate them fairly.

Related profiles, source records and Case Nexus

• Nathaniel J. DeGrave profile
• Ronnie Sandlin profile
• Josiah Colt profile
• FBI Statement of Facts
• Initial indictment
• Superseding indictment
• Plea agreement
• Statement of offense
• DOJ plea announcement archive record
• Associated Press sentencing-report record
• CBS sentencing-report record
• January 6 clemency proclamation record
• Post-pardon interview listing
• Explore the J6 Case Nexus for connected people, documents and events

Evidence and corrections still needed

The highest-value additions are:

• the signed judgment and Statement of Reasons;
• sentencing memoranda and the sentencing transcript;
• the complete PACER or RECAP docket;
• a final count-by-count dismissal record;
• Bureau of Prisons custody and release records;
• an individual pardon certificate, if one was requested and issued;
• the native post-pardon interview audio and a complete transcript;
• archive-controlled copies of the court PDFs; and
• a photograph only if identity, provenance and lawful reuse rights are verified.

Do not submit sealed material, credentials, private family information or copyrighted media without permission. Use the evidence-submission page or Tell Your Story, and include the original URL, date, case number, docket entry, source provenance and lawful reuse basis.

Principal sources

• FBI Statement of Facts PDF
• Initial indictment PDF
• Superseding indictment PDF
• Plea agreement PDF
• Statement of offense PDF
• DOJ plea announcement
• Associated Press sentencing report
• CBS News sentencing report
• January 20, 2025 clemency proclamation

Source note: Five native court PDFs were downloaded, text-extracted, rendered and visually reviewed. Their hashes, sizes, page counts, capture timestamps and verification boundaries are preserved in the archive provenance record.

Image note: The social artwork is an original, person-free editorial illustration of blank archive folders, abstract courthouse columns and a neutral procedural timeline. It does not depict DeGrave, a real filing, an official seal, evidence, a courtroom event or any person.