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 throughout 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 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 lower than three hours earlier than they convicted Webster of all six counts in his indictment, including a cost that he assaulted Metropolitan Police Department officer Noah Rathbun with a dangerous weapon, a steel flagpole. The assault charge alone is punishable by as much as 20 years in prison, though sentencing pointers probably will recommend a considerably shorter jail 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 also 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 said videos capturing the officer’s assault from multiple angles were crucial proof rebutting Webster’s self-defense argument.

“I suppose we have been all stunned that he would even make that defense argument,” said 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 here at all.”

One other juror, who additionally spoke on condition of anonymity, mentioned 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 additionally had been convicted of all expenses of their respective indictments. A judge decided two different cases with out a jury, acquitting one of many defendants and partially acquitting the other.

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

“We’re disillusioned,” defense legal professional James Monroe stated 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 believe we saw some of this expressed immediately.”

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

Webster drove alone to Washington from his residence near 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 tackle hundreds of supporters.

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

Rathbun’s body camera captured Webster shouting profanities and insults before they made any bodily contact. Webster mentioned 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 digicam video shows that Webster slammed one of the bike racks at Rathbun earlier than the officer reached out with an open left hand and struck the appropriate side of Webster’s face. Webster stated it felt as if he had been hit by a freight practice.

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

Rathbun said he was trying to move Webster again from a safety perimeter that he and other officers were struggling to keep up.

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

Rathbun testified that he began choking because the chin strap on his gasoline mask pressed against his throat. Webster mentioned he grabbed Rathbun by the gasoline masks because he needed the officer to see his arms.

Rathbun reported a hand damage from a separate encounter with a rioter contained in the Capitol. He didn’t report any injuries caused by Webster, but jurors noticed 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 dangerous weapon; civil disorder; coming into and remaining in restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in restricted grounds with a harmful weapon; partaking 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 non-public safety 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 folks 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. Greater than 100 officers had 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 decide hearing testimony and not using a jury acquitted Matthew Martin, a New Mexico man who mentioned outnumbered cops allowed him and others to enter the Capitol by way of the Rotunda doorways.

Two riot defendants didn’t testify at their trials before jurors convicted them of all costs, including interfering with officers. One in every of them, Thomas Robertson, was an off-duty police officer from Rocky Mount, Virginia. The other, Texas resident Man Wesley Reffitt, also 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, additionally presided over a bench trial for New Mexico elected official Couy Griffin. McFadden convicted Griffin of illegally entering restricted Capitol grounds however acquitted him of partaking in disorderly conduct.