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 claim 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 first to current 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 cost that he assaulted Metropolitan Police Department officer Noah Rathbun with a harmful weapon, a metallic flagpole. The assault charge alone is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, although sentencing guidelines likely will suggest a significantly shorter jail term.

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

Rathbun testified that he didn’t punch or decide 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 mentioned videos capturing the officer’s assault from multiple angles have been essential evidence rebutting Webster’s self-defense argument.

“I guess we had been all shocked that he would even make that defense argument,” stated a juror who spoke on situation of anonymity. “There was no dissention amongst us at all. We unanimously agreed that there was no self-defense argument here at all.”

One other juror, who additionally spoke on condition of anonymity, said Webster’s self-defense claim “simply didn’t stack up.”

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

Webster’s jury trial was the fourth for a Capitol riot case. The primary three defendants to get a jury trial also have been convicted of all prices of their respective indictments. A decide determined two other circumstances with out a jury, acquitting one of many defendants and partially acquitting the other.

Webster, who wore a masks in court docket, confirmed no obvious reaction to the decision.

“We’re disappointed,” defense lawyer James Monroe said after the verdict, “but we acknowledged from the start that people here (in Washington, D.C.) were fairly traumatized by what transpired on Jan. 6. And I think we noticed a few of this expressed as we speak.”

Prosecutors requested for Webster to be detained, but the choose agreed to let him remain free until his sentencing. He’ll proceed to be monitored with an ankle bracelet. The decide mentioned it was a “shut name” whether or not to jail him immediately however famous 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 carrying a bulletproof vest and carrying a U.S. Marine Corps flag on a steel pole when he approached the Capitol, after listening to Trump tackle thousands of supporters.

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

Rathbun’s body camera captured Webster shouting profanities and insults before they made any physical contact. Webster stated 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 bike racks.

The physique digicam video exhibits that Webster slammed one of the bike racks at Rathbun earlier than the officer reached out with an open left hand and struck the correct aspect of Webster’s face. Webster mentioned it felt as though he had been hit by a freight train.

“It was a hard hit, and all I wished to do was defend myself,” Webster mentioned.

Rathbun mentioned he was attempting to move Webster again from a safety perimeter that he and other officers had been struggling to take care of.

After Rathbun struck his face, Webster swung a metal flag pole on the officer in a downward chopping movement, putting a bike rack. Rathbun grabbed the broken pole from Webster, who charged on the officer, tackled him to the ground and grabbed his gas mask.

Rathbun testified that he started choking as the chin strap on his gas masks pressed towards his throat. Webster mentioned he grabbed Rathbun by the gas mask because he wanted the officer to see his palms.

Rathbun reported a hand harm from a separate encounter with a rioter inside the Capitol. He didn’t report any injuries attributable to Webster, however jurors saw images of leg bruises that Rathbun attributed to his confrontation with the retired officer.

Webster faced counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer using a harmful weapon; civil dysfunction; entering and remaining in restricted grounds with a harmful weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in restricted grounds with a harmful weapon; partaking in physical violence in restricted grounds with a harmful weapon; and interesting in an act of bodily 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 non-public security element. He served within the U.S. Marine Corps from 1985 to 1989 earlier than becoming a member of the NYPD in 1991.

Greater than 780 individuals have been charged with riot-related federal crimes. The Justice Division says more than 245 of them have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. Greater than 100 officers were 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, stated he was following orders from Trump. A choose listening to testimony with out a jury acquitted Matthew Martin, a New Mexico man who mentioned outnumbered cops allowed him and others to enter the Capitol via the Rotunda doorways.

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 opposite, Texas resident Guy Wesley Reffitt, also was convicted of storming the Capitol with a holstered handgun.

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