Two area residents among those pardoned by Trump for Jan. 6 offenses

Vincent J. Gillespie, of Athol, is one of two area residents pardoned by President Donald Trump for their actions during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Vincent J. Gillespie, of Athol, is one of two area residents pardoned by President Donald Trump for their actions during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. COURTESY IMAGE/FBI

Vincent J. Gillespie, of Athol, is one of two area residents pardoned by President Donald Trump for their actions during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Vincent J. Gillespie, of Athol, is one of two area residents pardoned by President Donald Trump for their actions during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. COURTESY IMAGE/FBI

Christopher H. Keniley, of Greenfield, pictured at left, and Vincent J. Gillespie, of Athol, pictured at right, were pardoned by President Donald Trump for their actions during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Christopher H. Keniley, of Greenfield, pictured at left, and Vincent J. Gillespie, of Athol, pictured at right, were pardoned by President Donald Trump for their actions during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. COURTESY IMAGE/FBI

By DOMENIC POLI

Staff Writer

Published: 01-24-2025 7:17 PM

Two area residents are among the roughly 1,500 people pardoned by President Donald Trump for their actions during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Christopher H. Keniley, of Greenfield, and Vincent J. Gillespie, of Athol, were on hand for the failed attempt to prevent the certification of the 2020 election based on Trump’s lies about widespread voter fraud, and both benefit from the reelected commander in chief’s sweeping pardons and commutations.

Keniley was arrested in September 2023 and nearly one year ago pleaded guilty to one count of disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds, and one count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. He was sentenced in July 2024 to 10 days in prison and remains on probation.

In April 2023, Gillespie was sentenced to 68 months in prison after a jury found him guilty of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers; civil disorder; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building. He was arrested in Athol on Feb. 18, 2022, after at least six tipsters recognized him from images released by law enforcement.

“This proclamation ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation,” Trump wrote on Jan. 20.

Keniley declined to comment when contacted at his Grove Street home. An attempt to locate Gillespie at his previous Green Street residence was unsuccessful.

The FBI learned of Keniley’s involvement in the Capitol riot through electronic evidence and later obtained numerous videos showing him on the Capitol grounds and inside the building. One video shows Keniley standing on a retaining wall next to stairs leading to the Capitol, then walking along the edge of the wall, approaching police while holding up a cellphone and an American flag, according to the FBI.

Keniley then stands in front of police, turns and pans his cellphone with the camera on across the crowd. He is then heard shouting, “Yeah, the criminals are inside, go get them. Did anyone ask how Pelosi [could be] a $200 millionaire? She’s f***ing corrupt, wake up! Jesus! What does it take?”

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He then steps down from the wall, turns to someone in the crowd and says to them, “We gotta get in there, man. They aren’t going to listen to us,” and points to the Capitol building. Another video shows Keniley entering the Capitol building at 3:09 p.m. with a large group of rioters, holding an American flag in his left hand and holding what appears to be a cellphone in the other hand, as if to record or photograph the scene. According to FBI evidence, he left the building about 10 minutes after he entered it.

Gillespie was convicted after evidence at trial showed that from approximately 4:11 p.m. to 4:26 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, he was among rioters engaging in pushing, shoving, yelling and fighting with law enforcement officers in the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol.

“He struggled his way through the crowd, eventually maneuvering through the rioters to the line of police officers defending the Lower West Terrace’s exterior door,” reads a statement the U.S. Department of Justice released after the sentencing. “At one point, he gained control of a police shield and used it to ram the police. He then used two hands to grab a Metropolitan Police Department sergeant by the arm, yanking him toward the mob. He then screamed ‘traitor’ and ‘treason’ at the police.”

Gillespie, a former resident of Greenfield and Easthampton, was arrested in Athol on Feb. 18, 2022. He pleaded not guilty and posted a $10,000 unsecured bond in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. An unsecured bond means a defendant promises to pay a certain amount if he or she does not follow the conditions of release or appear in court.

Gillespie was represented by attorneys Timothy Watkins, Forest O’Neill-Greenberg and Aziza Hawthorne. Attempts to contact them were unsuccessful. An auto-reply from Gillespie’s email suggests sending mail to a correctional facility in New Jersey.

Trump’s pardons and commutations have received a somewhat lukewarm reaction from congressional Republicans, though they have been widely condemned by Democrats and police officers who were on scene that day.

“These pardons are sick. They are offensive. They are un-American,” U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern said on the House floor this week. “Mr. Speaker, how the hell do you guys walk into this place every day? How do you look the police officers in the eye? How do you do it, knowing the people who tried to kill them will walk free thanks to Donald Trump?”

McGovern, who represents Massachusetts, also mentioned he took over for Speaker Nancy Pelosi when she was evacuated after the rioters breached the building and that he was one of the final lawmakers to leave the room that day.

“I saw the faces of the rioters smashing windows to try to get at us. They wanted to kill people, kill police, kill us. I saw the walls they covered with feces,” he said. “I saw them use flagpoles to beat police officers.”

At least four officers who responded to the attack died by suicide within seven months of the event.

Idaho woman Pamela Hemphill, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 60 days in prison for her role in the insurrection, has rejected Trump’s pardon of her and the others.

“We were wrong that day,” she told BBC News.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.