The “QAnon shaman,” a participant of the Jan 6. insurrection at the Capitol, is negotiating a possible plea deal with prosecutors after prison psychologists found he suffers from various mental illnesses, his attorney said according to Reuters.
The man, Jacob Chansley, was diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety by the federal Bureau of Prisons, defense lawyer Albert Watkins said in an interview with the publication.
Watkins says the Bureau of Prisons’ diagnosis suggests that Chansley’s mental state deteriorated while in solitary confinement at an Alexandria, Va., jail.
“As he spent more time in solitary confinement … the decline in his acuity was noticeable, even to an untrained eye,” he said.
He added that Chansley’s 2006 records from his time in the Navy reflect a similar diagnosis.
In the past, Watkins has also said that his client has Asperger’s syndrome.
Watkins has repeatedly condemned former President Trump, blaming him for Chansley’s participation. He even compared Trump to Adolf Hitler, saying that the world has not seen “propaganda” like Trump’s since “Hitler.”
Chansley was first photographed inside the Capitol shirtless wearing a horned headdress and heavily tattooed. He gets his nickname from his belief in the QAnon conspiracy theory, presenting Trump as a savior and Democrats as a group of Satanists, pedophiles and cannibals.