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 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 fuel mask.

Thomas Webster, a 20-year NYPD veteran, was the first Capitol riot defendant to be tried on an assault cost and the first 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, together with a charge that he assaulted Metropolitan Police Division officer Noah Rathbun with a dangerous weapon, a metal flagpole. The assault cost alone is punishable by as much as 20 years in prison, though sentencing tips possible will suggest a considerably shorter prison 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 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 decision stated videos capturing the officer’s assault from a number of angles were crucial proof rebutting Webster’s self-defense argument.

“I suppose we had been all surprised that he would even make that defense argument,” said a juror who spoke on situation of anonymity. “There was no dissention amongst 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, said Webster’s self-defense declare “simply didn’t stack up.”

U.S. District Decide 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 charges in their respective indictments. A decide decided two other instances with out a jury, acquitting one of many defendants and partially acquitting the opposite.

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

“We’re dissatisfied,” protection legal professional James Monroe mentioned after the verdict, “however we acknowledged from the start that folk right here (in Washington, D.C.) were quite traumatized by what transpired on Jan. 6. And I feel we noticed some of this expressed at this time.”

Prosecutors asked for Webster to be detained, but the decide agreed to let him stay free until his sentencing. He’ll proceed to be monitored with an ankle bracelet. The choose mentioned it was a “close call” whether to jail him immediately but noted that he has complied with present circumstances 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 “Stop the Steal” rally. He was sporting a bulletproof vest and carrying a U.S. Marine Corps flag on a metal pole when he approached the Capitol, after listening to Trump tackle 1000's of supporters.

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

Rathbun’s physique digital camera captured Webster shouting profanities and insults earlier than 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 body camera video exhibits that Webster slammed one of many bike racks at Rathbun earlier than the officer reached out with an open left hand and struck the fitting side of Webster’s face. Webster stated it felt as though 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 said he was making an attempt to maneuver Webster again from a safety perimeter that he and other officers had been struggling to maintain.

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

Rathbun testified that he started choking as the chin strap on his fuel mask pressed towards his throat. Webster stated he grabbed Rathbun by the fuel masks because he wished 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 accidents caused by Webster, but jurors noticed pictures 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; getting into and remaining in restricted grounds with a harmful weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in restricted grounds with a harmful weapon; partaking in bodily violence in restricted grounds with a harmful 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 personal safety element. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1985 to 1989 earlier than joining the NYPD in 1991.

More than 780 people have been charged with riot-related federal crimes. The Justice Division says more than 245 of them have been charged with assaulting or impeding regulation enforcement. More 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 choose hearing testimony with out a jury acquitted Matthew Martin, a New Mexico man who mentioned outnumbered police officers allowed him and others to enter the Capitol by means of the Rotunda doors.

Two riot defendants didn’t testify at their trials before jurors convicted them of all fees, together with interfering with officers. Certainly one of them, Thomas Robertson, was an off-duty police officer from Rocky Mount, Virginia. The other, 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 charges, also 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.