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 masks.

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 lower than three hours before they convicted Webster of all six counts in his indictment, including a charge that he assaulted Metropolitan Police Department officer Noah Rathbun with a harmful weapon, a metal flagpole. The assault cost alone is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, though sentencing pointers doubtless will advocate a considerably shorter prison time period.

Webster, 56, testified that he was attempting to guard himself from a “rogue cop” who punched him within the face. He additionally 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 decision said movies capturing the officer’s assault from a number of angles were crucial evidence rebutting Webster’s self-defense argument.

“I guess we were all stunned that he would even make that defense argument,” said a juror who spoke on situation of anonymity. “There was no dissention among us in any respect. We unanimously agreed that there was no self-defense argument here at all.”

Another juror, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said Webster’s self-defense claim “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 first three defendants to get a jury trial additionally have been convicted of all costs of their respective indictments. A choose decided two other circumstances and not using a jury, acquitting one of the defendants and partially acquitting the other.

Webster, who wore a mask in courtroom, confirmed no obvious response to the verdict.

“We’re upset,” defense attorney James Monroe said after the verdict, “but we acknowledged from the start that folks here (in Washington, D.C.) were quite traumatized by what transpired on Jan. 6. And I believe we saw a few of this expressed immediately.”

Prosecutors asked for Webster to be detained, however the judge agreed to let him remain free till his sentencing. He’ll proceed to be monitored with an ankle bracelet. The choose said it was a “shut name” whether or not to jail him instantly but 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 near 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 metal pole when he approached the Capitol, after listening to Trump deal with 1000's of supporters.

Webster said 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 intrude with Congress’ joint session to certify the Electoral College vote.

Rathbun’s body digital camera captured Webster shouting profanities and insults earlier than 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 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 appropriate aspect of Webster’s face. Webster mentioned it felt as though he had been hit by a freight train.

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

Rathbun stated he was making an attempt to maneuver Webster again from a security perimeter that he and other officers had been struggling to keep up.

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

Rathbun testified that he began choking as the chin strap on his gasoline mask pressed in opposition to his throat. Webster stated he grabbed Rathbun by the gasoline masks because he wished the officer to see his hands.

Rathbun reported a hand harm from a separate encounter with a rioter inside the Capitol. He didn’t report any injuries brought on by Webster, but jurors noticed photos 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 harmful weapon; civil dysfunction; getting into and remaining in restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon; participating in bodily 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 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 more than 245 of them have been charged with assaulting or impeding legislation enforcement. Greater 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 decide hearing testimony with no jury acquitted Matthew Martin, a New Mexico man who stated outnumbered cops allowed him and others to enter the Capitol via the Rotunda doors.

Two riot defendants didn’t testify at their trials before jurors convicted them of all fees, together with interfering with officers. 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 Decide Trevor McFadden, a Trump nominee who acquitted Martin of all expenses, also 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.