BOSTON — The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine has stripped an Ashland gynecologist of her right to renew her medical license after finding that she stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and struck a Metropolitan Police officer with her closed fist — ending a 43-year career, and doing so despite President Trump's pardon of her federal conviction.

Dr. Jacquelyn J. Starer, 70, first licensed in Massachusetts in 1983, was among the mob that pushed through the Capitol Rotunda that afternoon, according to federal prosecutors. She had spent the morning at then-candidate Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally near the White House before joining the crowd outside the Capitol, entering through the Rotunda doors roughly 15 minutes after they were breached.

Once inside, Starer bulldozed past other rioters to reach the front of a police line guarding the passageway to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office. When another rioter tried to hold her back, she grabbed his arm, shoved it down, and pushed against the police line. When an officer pushed her backward, Starer turned around and punched the officer — a female Metropolitan Police officer identified in court records only by her initials — with a closed fist while yelling a profanity, prosecutors said.

The assault was captured on the officer's body camera. "Rioters reacted to the assault by becoming more aggressive," a Justice Department prosecutor wrote in a sentencing memo, "and they then charged the police line."

Starer pled guilty in April 2024 to eight counts, including a felony assault charge, without reaching a plea agreement. Prosecutors asked for a 27-month sentence. In September 2024, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly sentenced her to nine months in prison followed by nine months of home confinement. Starer told the judge her actions were a "regrettable encounter" and that she "truly wish[ed] reason had prevailed over my emotions."

The officer who was punched addressed the court before sentencing. She told the judge she had feared for her life as officers fought for hours to defend the Capitol. "Do you really take responsibility for your actions," she asked Starer, "or are you just going to say: 'It wasn't my fault. Fight or flight'?"

Starer, board certified in obstetrics and gynecology, general preventive medicine, and addiction medicine, will not have her Massachusetts medical license renewed. A federal pardon can end a prison sentence. It doesn't refund a medical license.