NYPD veteran convicted of assaulting officer in Capitol riot

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal jury on Monday convicted a New York Police Department 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 first 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 lower than three hours earlier than they convicted Webster of all six counts in his indictment, together with a cost that he assaulted Metropolitan Police Division officer Noah Rathbun with a dangerous weapon, a metal flagpole. The assault charge alone is punishable by as much as 20 years in prison, though sentencing guidelines doubtless 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 also 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 verdict mentioned movies capturing the officer’s assault from a number of angles were essential evidence rebutting Webster’s self-defense argument.

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

Another juror, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, stated Webster’s self-defense declare “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 had been convicted of all expenses of their respective indictments. A decide decided two different instances without a jury, acquitting one of many defendants and partially acquitting the other.

Webster, who wore a mask in court docket, showed no apparent response to the decision.

“We’re disenchanted,” protection attorney James Monroe mentioned after the verdict, “however we recognized from the beginning that people right here (in Washington, D.C.) have been quite traumatized by what transpired on Jan. 6. And I think we saw some of this expressed in the present day.”

Prosecutors requested for Webster to be detained, however the choose agreed to let him remain free until his sentencing. He’ll continue to be monitored with an ankle bracelet. The decide stated it was a “shut call” whether to jail him instantly however famous that he has complied with current situations of launch 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 steel pole when he approached the Capitol, after listening to Trump deal with thousands of supporters.

Webster said 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 intervene with Congress’ joint session to certify the Electoral School vote.

Rathbun’s physique digicam captured Webster shouting profanities and insults earlier than they made any bodily 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 motorbike racks.

The body digital camera video shows that Webster slammed one of the bike racks at Rathbun before the officer reached out with an open left hand and struck the best aspect of Webster’s face. Webster mentioned 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 said he was attempting to move Webster back from a security perimeter that he and different officers have been struggling to keep up.

After Rathbun struck his face, Webster swung a metal flag pole on the officer in a downward chopping motion, putting a motorcycle rack. Rathbun grabbed the broken pole from Webster, who charged at 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 in opposition to his throat. Webster said he grabbed Rathbun by the gas masks as a result of he wanted the officer to see his palms.

Rathbun reported a hand injury from a separate encounter with a rioter contained in the Capitol. He didn’t report any injuries caused by Webster, but jurors saw images of leg bruises that Rathbun attributed to his confrontation with the retired officer.

Webster confronted counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer utilizing a dangerous 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; engaging in bodily 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 personal security detail. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1985 to 1989 before joining the NYPD in 1991.

Greater than 780 folks have been charged with riot-related federal crimes. The Justice Division says greater than 245 of them have been charged with assaulting or impeding legislation enforcement. Greater than 100 officers were 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, mentioned he was following orders from Trump. A decide hearing testimony with out a jury acquitted Matthew Martin, a New Mexico man who mentioned outnumbered cops allowed him and others to enter the Capitol by the Rotunda doors.

Two riot defendants didn’t testify at their trials before jurors convicted them of all prices, including interfering with officers. One in all them, Thomas Robertson, was an off-duty police officer from Rocky Mount, Virginia. The other, 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, additionally 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 participating in disorderly conduct.