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 gas mask.

Thomas Webster, a 20-year NYPD veteran, was the first Capitol riot defendant to be tried on an assault charge and the first to current 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, including a charge that he assaulted Metropolitan Police Division officer Noah Rathbun with a harmful weapon, a steel flagpole. The assault charge alone is punishable by as much as 20 years in prison, although sentencing guidelines probably will suggest 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 also accused Rathbun of instigating the confrontation.

Rathbun testified that he didn’t punch or pick 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 mentioned movies capturing the officer’s assault from multiple angles were essential evidence rebutting Webster’s self-defense argument.

“I assume we have been all stunned that he would even make that protection 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 right here at all.”

One other juror, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said Webster’s self-defense claim “just didn’t stack up.”

U.S. District Decide Amit Mehta is scheduled to condemn 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 were convicted of all charges in their respective indictments. A choose decided two different instances without a jury, acquitting one of the defendants and partially acquitting the opposite.

Webster, who wore a masks in court, showed no apparent reaction to the verdict.

“We’re disappointed,” defense legal professional James Monroe mentioned after the verdict, “but we recognized from the beginning that people right here (in Washington, D.C.) have been fairly traumatized by what transpired on Jan. 6. And I think we noticed some of this expressed today.”

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

Webster drove alone to Washington from his home 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 metal pole when he approached the Capitol, after listening to Trump deal with thousands of supporters.

Webster mentioned 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 interfere 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 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 motorbike racks.

The body digicam video reveals that Webster slammed one of the bike racks at Rathbun earlier than the officer reached out with an open left hand and struck the fitting aspect of Webster’s face. Webster said it felt as though he had been hit by a freight train.

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

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

After Rathbun struck his face, Webster swung a metallic flag pole at the officer in a downward chopping movement, placing a bike rack. Rathbun grabbed the damaged pole from Webster, who charged at the officer, tackled him to the bottom and grabbed his gas masks.

Rathbun testified that he began choking as the chin strap on his gasoline masks pressed against his throat. Webster said he grabbed Rathbun by the fuel mask as a result of he wished the officer to see his fingers.

Rathbun reported a hand damage from a separate encounter with a rioter contained in the Capitol. He didn’t report any injuries brought on by Webster, but jurors noticed pictures 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 dysfunction; 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 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 non-public security detail. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1985 to 1989 before joining the NYPD in 1991.

More than 780 people have been charged with riot-related federal crimes. The Justice Division says greater than 245 of them have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. Greater 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, stated he was following orders from Trump. A choose listening to testimony with out a jury acquitted Matthew Martin, a New Mexico man who said 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 earlier than jurors convicted them of all fees, together with 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, 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 costs, also 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 partaking in disorderly conduct.