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 throughout 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 first Capitol riot defendant to be tried on an assault charge and the first to present a jury with a self-defense argument.

Jurors deliberated for less than three hours before 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 metallic flagpole. The assault charge alone is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, though sentencing guidelines likely will advocate 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 decide a combat 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 verdict said movies capturing the officer’s assault from a number of angles have been essential evidence rebutting Webster’s self-defense argument.

“I assume we have been all surprised that he would even make that protection argument,” said a juror who spoke on situation of anonymity. “There was no dissention among us in any respect. We unanimously agreed that there was no self-defense argument here in any respect.”

One other juror, who also spoke on situation of anonymity, stated Webster’s self-defense declare “simply didn’t stack up.”

U.S. District Choose 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 had been convicted of all costs in their respective indictments. A choose determined two different circumstances and not using a jury, acquitting one of the defendants and partially acquitting the opposite.

Webster, who wore a mask in court docket, confirmed no obvious response to the verdict.

“We’re upset,” protection attorney James Monroe mentioned after the verdict, “but we acknowledged from the beginning that people right here (in Washington, D.C.) were fairly traumatized by what transpired on Jan. 6. And I feel we saw some of this expressed right now.”

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

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

Webster said he went to the Capitol to “petition” lawmakers to “relook” on the outcomes of the 2020 presidential election. But he testified that he didn’t intend to interfere with Congress’ joint session to certify the Electoral School vote.

Rathbun’s physique digital camera captured Webster shouting profanities and insults earlier than they made any bodily 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 motorcycle racks.

The physique camera video exhibits that Webster slammed one of many bike racks at Rathbun before the officer reached out with an open left hand and struck the fitting facet of Webster’s face. Webster stated it felt as if he had been hit by a freight train.

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

Rathbun stated he was making an attempt to move Webster again from a safety perimeter that he and other officers had been struggling to keep up.

After Rathbun struck his face, Webster swung a steel flag pole on the officer in a downward chopping movement, putting a motorbike rack. Rathbun grabbed the damaged pole from Webster, who charged on the officer, tackled him to the bottom and grabbed his gasoline masks.

Rathbun testified that he started choking because the chin strap on his fuel masks pressed in opposition to his throat. Webster stated he grabbed Rathbun by the gasoline mask as a result of he wished the officer to see his arms.

Rathbun reported a hand harm from a separate encounter with a rioter inside the Capitol. He didn’t report any accidents caused by Webster, however jurors saw photographs 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; getting into and remaining in restricted grounds with a harmful weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon; partaking in bodily violence in restricted grounds with a harmful weapon; and engaging 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 personal safety detail. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1985 to 1989 before becoming a member of the NYPD in 1991.

More than 780 people have been charged with riot-related federal crimes. The Justice Department says more than 245 of them have been charged with assaulting or impeding regulation enforcement. More than 100 officers have been injured.

Two different 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 said outnumbered law enforcement officials allowed him and others to enter the Capitol by means of the Rotunda doorways.

Two riot defendants didn’t testify at their trials before jurors convicted them of all expenses, including 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 charges, 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 participating in disorderly conduct.