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 in the course of the U.S. Capitol riot, rejecting his claim that he was defending himself when he tackled the officer and grabbed his gas mask.

Thomas Webster, a 20-year NYPD veteran, was the first Capitol riot defendant to be tried on an assault charge 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, including a charge that he assaulted Metropolitan Police Division officer Noah Rathbun with a harmful weapon, a metallic flagpole. The assault cost alone is punishable by up to 20 years in jail, although sentencing tips doubtless will advocate a significantly shorter prison time period.

Webster, 56, testified that he was making an attempt 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 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 movies capturing the officer’s assault from multiple angles have been essential evidence rebutting Webster’s self-defense argument.

“I guess we had been all surprised that he would even make that protection argument,” mentioned 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 right here at all.”

Another juror, who also spoke on situation of anonymity, said Webster’s self-defense declare “just 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 first three defendants to get a jury trial additionally had been convicted of all expenses of their respective indictments. A decide determined two different cases and not using a jury, acquitting one of many defendants and partially acquitting the other.

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

“We’re upset,” protection attorney James Monroe said after the verdict, “however we acknowledged from the start that folk here (in Washington, D.C.) have been quite traumatized by what transpired on Jan. 6. And I think we noticed a few of this expressed at present.”

Prosecutors requested 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 stated it was a “close call” whether to jail him immediately however 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 sporting a bulletproof vest and carrying a U.S. Marine Corps flag on a metallic pole when he approached the Capitol, after listening to Trump address 1000's 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 intrude with Congress’ joint session to certify the Electoral Faculty vote.

Rathbun’s physique digicam captured Webster shouting profanities and insults before 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 bike racks.

The body digicam video shows 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 side of Webster’s face. Webster stated it felt as if he had been hit by a freight prepare.

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

Rathbun stated he was trying to maneuver Webster again from a security perimeter that he and different officers have been struggling to take care of.

After Rathbun struck his face, Webster swung a steel flag pole at the officer in a downward chopping motion, hanging a bike rack. Rathbun grabbed the damaged pole from Webster, who charged on the officer, tackled him to the ground and grabbed his gas mask.

Rathbun testified that he began choking as the chin strap on his gas mask pressed against his throat. Webster mentioned he grabbed Rathbun by the gas mask as a result of he needed the officer to see his arms.

Rathbun reported a hand damage from a separate encounter with a rioter inside the Capitol. He didn’t report any accidents attributable to Webster, but 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 dangerous weapon; civil dysfunction; coming into and remaining in restricted grounds with a dangerous 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 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 safety detail. He served within the U.S. Marine Corps from 1985 to 1989 earlier than 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 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 judge hearing testimony and not using a jury acquitted Matthew Martin, a New Mexico man who mentioned outnumbered law enforcement officials allowed him and others to enter the Capitol by way of 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 every of them, Thomas Robertson, was an off-duty police officer from Rocky Mount, Virginia. The opposite, Texas resident Man Wesley Reffitt, additionally 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, also presided over a bench trial for New Mexico elected official Couy Griffin. McFadden convicted Griffin of illegally coming into restricted Capitol grounds however acquitted him of partaking in disorderly conduct.