NYPD veteran convicted of assaulting officer in Capitol riot

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal jury on Monday convicted a New York Police Division veteran of assaulting an officer during the U.S. Capitol riot, rejecting his declare that he was defending himself when he tackled the officer and grabbed his fuel masks.

Thomas Webster, a 20-year NYPD veteran, was the primary Capitol riot defendant to be tried on an assault cost and the primary to present a jury with a self-defense argument.

Jurors deliberated for less than three hours earlier than they convicted Webster of all six counts in his indictment, together with a charge that he assaulted Metropolitan Police Division officer Noah Rathbun with a harmful weapon, a metal flagpole. The assault cost alone is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, although sentencing guidelines possible will suggest a significantly shorter prison term.

Webster, 56, testified that he was attempting to protect himself from a “rogue cop” who punched him in the face. He additionally accused Rathbun of instigating the confrontation.

Rathbun testified that he didn’t punch or pick a struggle with Webster as a violent mob attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, disrupting Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory over then-President Donald Trump.

Two jurors who spoke to reporters after the decision stated movies capturing the officer’s assault from multiple angles had been essential proof rebutting Webster’s self-defense argument.

“I suppose we have been all surprised that he would even make that protection argument,” said a juror who spoke on condition of anonymity. “There was no dissention amongst us at all. We unanimously agreed that there was no self-defense argument here at all.”

Another juror, who additionally spoke on situation of anonymity, stated Webster’s self-defense claim “just didn’t stack up.”

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is scheduled to condemn Webster on Sept. 2.

Webster’s jury trial was the fourth for a Capitol riot case. The first three defendants to get a jury trial additionally have been convicted of all expenses in their respective indictments. A decide determined two different circumstances with out a jury, acquitting one of the defendants and partially acquitting the opposite.

Webster, who wore a masks in court, showed no apparent reaction to the verdict.

“We’re disillusioned,” protection lawyer James Monroe said after the verdict, “but we acknowledged from the beginning that folk here (in Washington, D.C.) were fairly traumatized by what transpired on Jan. 6. And I feel we saw a few of this expressed right this moment.”

Prosecutors asked for Webster to be detained, however the choose agreed to let him remain free till his sentencing. He’ll continue to be monitored with an ankle bracelet. The choose stated it was a “shut call” whether to jail him immediately but noted that he has complied with current situations of release and doesn’t have any prior convictions.

Webster drove alone to Washington from his residence close to Goshen, New York, on the eve of the Jan. 6 “Cease the Steal” rally. He was wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a U.S. Marine Corps flag on a metal pole when he approached the Capitol, after listening to Trump deal with thousands of supporters.

Webster stated he went to the Capitol to “petition” lawmakers to “relook” at the results of the 2020 presidential election. But he testified that he didn’t intend to interfere with Congress’ joint session to certify the Electoral College vote.

Rathbun’s physique digital camera captured Webster shouting profanities and insults earlier than they made any physical contact. Webster said he was attending his first political protest as a civilian and expressing his free speech rights when he yelled at officers behind a row of motorcycle racks.

The body camera video exhibits that Webster slammed one of many bike racks at Rathbun earlier than the officer reached out with an open left hand and struck the right aspect of Webster’s face. Webster said it felt as if he had been hit by a freight prepare.

“It was a tough hit, and all I needed to do was defend myself,” Webster said.

Rathbun said he was trying to move Webster again from a safety perimeter that he and different officers have been struggling to maintain.

After Rathbun struck his face, Webster swung a metallic flag pole on the officer in a downward chopping movement, striking a motorbike rack. Rathbun grabbed the broken pole from Webster, who charged on the officer, tackled him to the ground and grabbed his gasoline masks.

Rathbun testified that he began choking as the chin strap on his gasoline mask pressed in opposition to his throat. Webster mentioned he grabbed Rathbun by the fuel masks as a result of he needed the officer to see his fingers.

Rathbun reported a hand harm from a separate encounter with a rioter contained in the Capitol. He didn’t report any accidents caused by Webster, however jurors noticed pictures of leg bruises that Rathbun attributed to his confrontation with the retired officer.

Webster confronted counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer using a harmful weapon; civil disorder; entering and remaining in restricted grounds with a harmful weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in restricted grounds with a harmful weapon; engaging in physical violence in restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon; and fascinating in an act of physical violence on Capitol grounds.

Webster retired from the NYPD in 2011 after 20 years of service, which included a stint on then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s private security element. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1985 to 1989 before becoming a member of the NYPD in 1991.

Greater than 780 individuals have been charged with riot-related federal crimes. The Justice Department says greater than 245 of them have been charged with assaulting or impeding legislation enforcement. More than 100 officers had been injured.

Two other defendants testified at their trials. Dustin Byron Thompson, an Ohio man who was convicted by a jury of obstructing Congress from certifying Biden’s presidential victory, said he was following orders from Trump. A choose listening to testimony without a jury acquitted Matthew Martin, a New Mexico man who stated outnumbered cops allowed him and others to enter the Capitol by way of the Rotunda doors.

Two riot defendants didn’t testify at their trials earlier than jurors convicted them of all costs, together with interfering with officers. One in all them, Thomas Robertson, was an off-duty police officer from Rocky Mount, Virginia. The other, Texas resident Guy Wesley Reffitt, additionally was convicted of storming the Capitol with a holstered handgun.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump nominee who acquitted Martin of all costs, also presided over a bench trial for New Mexico elected official Couy Griffin. McFadden convicted Griffin of illegally getting into restricted Capitol grounds but acquitted him of partaking in disorderly conduct.