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 through 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 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 before 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 harmful weapon, a metal flagpole. The assault charge alone is punishable by as much as 20 years in jail, though sentencing guidelines seemingly will recommend a considerably shorter prison term.

Webster, 56, testified that he was making an attempt to protect 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 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 videos capturing the officer’s assault from a number of angles have been crucial evidence rebutting Webster’s self-defense argument.

“I guess we had been all shocked that he would even make that protection argument,” stated a juror who spoke on condition of anonymity. “There was no dissention among us at all. We unanimously agreed that there was no self-defense argument here at all.”

Another juror, who additionally spoke on situation of anonymity, mentioned Webster’s self-defense claim “simply didn’t stack up.”

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is scheduled to condemn 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 prices of their respective indictments. A choose decided two different instances without a jury, acquitting one of the defendants and partially acquitting the other.

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

“We’re upset,” protection lawyer James Monroe mentioned after the decision, “however we acknowledged from the start that folks here (in Washington, D.C.) have been fairly traumatized by what transpired on Jan. 6. And I feel we saw a few of this expressed right now.”

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

Webster drove alone to Washington from his dwelling near Goshen, New York, on the eve of the Jan. 6 “Cease 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 handle hundreds of supporters.

Webster mentioned he went to the Capitol to “petition” lawmakers to “relook” at the results 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 physique camera captured Webster shouting profanities and insults earlier than they made any physical 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 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 precise facet of Webster’s face. Webster said it felt as though he had been hit by a freight train.

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

Rathbun said he was making an attempt to maneuver Webster again from a security perimeter that he and different officers were struggling to maintain.

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 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 mask pressed towards his throat. Webster said he grabbed Rathbun by the fuel masks as a result of he needed the officer to see his fingers.

Rathbun reported a hand harm from a separate encounter with a rioter contained in the Capitol. He didn’t report any injuries brought on by Webster, however jurors saw photographs 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 harmful weapon; civil dysfunction; entering 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 engaging 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 individuals have been charged with riot-related federal crimes. The Justice Department says greater than 245 of them have been charged with assaulting or impeding legislation enforcement. Greater than 100 officers have 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 and not using a jury acquitted Matthew Martin, a New Mexico man who stated outnumbered police officers allowed him and others to enter the Capitol through the Rotunda doors.

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