Inset: Ryan Nichols (Harrison County Sheriff's Office). Background: Ryan Nichols at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot (United States House Select Committee).
A Jan. 6 rioter from Texas who was charged with threatening a churchgoer with a gun after being pardoned by President Donald Trump is dodging jail time yet again after accepting a plea deal in a separate case.
Ryan Nichols, 36, pleaded no contest on Thursday, Oct. 29, to a harassment charge related to a series of social media incidents between March 18 and April 8, according to online court records.
As part of the deal, prosecutors agreed to drop a deadly conduct charge that Nichols was facing for allegedly displaying a pistol while threatening and confronting a man over a "prior disagreement" in the parking lot of a church in Harleton, the Longview News-Journal reports. Nichols received 12 months of probation and must complete 96 hours of community service.
"He pled no contest to a harassment case, and we took into consideration that deadly conduct," Harrison County Assistant District Attorney Charlotte Reeves, who prosecuted the case, told the local newspaper.
Nichols claimed to have "completely changed" after the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack, in which he took weapons to the Capitol and assaulted members of the U.S. Capitol Police, according to a DOJ complaint.
His alleged actions suggested otherwise.
"Nichols confronted a subject … and whenever the subject attempted to leave and de-escalate the situation Nichols continued to confront him," the Harrison County Sheriff's Office said in a press release. "The victim stated that they turned away from Nichols and attempted to usher his family toward their vehicle while asking Nichols to go to his own vehicle and leave."
Nichols, who attempted to run for Congress before dropping out in 2025, allegedly continued confronting the victim as the man was putting his family in his vehicle and asking Nichols "to leave him alone several times."
After facing Nichols, the victim told police that Nichols "raised his shirt up to display a firearm" and placed his hand upon the grip in a "threatening manner causing the victim to be in fear of imminent serious bodily injury," per the sheriff's office.
"He gripped it completely," Harrison County Sheriff B.J. Fletcher told local ABC affiliate KLTV in an interview about the incident. "He did more than enough gesture to put you in fear of your life. That constitutes deadly conduct."
Describing the victim and his family, Fletcher said, "Those people are obviously scared of him and did think that he was wanting that to escalate to another level."
Fletcher told KLTV that the victim was not armed and was "holding a Bible." He said that "luckily" a bystander stepped in and de-escalated things.
"[The victim] had finished putting his kid in the backseat," Fletcher recounted. "Another subject that watched this happen, when the gunplay started, he got out and came over and got between them and told them this isn't something that needs to happen here. And they left."
Nichols was already wanted on a harassment warrant when he was arrested in the deadly conduct incident. He was among the 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants pardoned by Trump on the president's first day of his second term on Jan. 20, 2025, after being convicted for his involvement in the Capitol attack.
"I am the person to blame for what happened that day," Nichols claimed in 2023 about the Jan. 6 attack as he pleaded guilty to a felony count of obstruction of an official proceeding and a felony count of assaulting officers performing their duties, according to NBC News.
Nichols has said that his actions that day were a "bad choice" that he was "very sorry for."
On Jan. 6, 2026, Nichols said people should "think through every decision," according to local CBS affiliate KYTX.
"Do not let emotion override judgment," Nichols claimed. "You were pardoned once. There are no guarantees beyond that."
Asked what prompted the plea deal last week, Reeves told the News-Journal, "It's something they requested."
Nichols must pay a $500 probated fine and have no contact with the "alleged victims" in either case, in addition to probation and community service. He is also barred from consuming alcohol or illegal substances and from committing crimes in any state, and he must submit to random urinalysis, among other requirements.
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