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 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 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 lower 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 harmful weapon, a steel flagpole. The assault charge alone is punishable by as much as 20 years in prison, although sentencing tips possible will recommend a considerably 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 decide a fight 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 said videos capturing the officer’s assault from multiple angles have been crucial proof rebutting Webster’s self-defense argument.

“I assume we have been all shocked 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.”

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

U.S. District Choose 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 also had been convicted of all expenses in their respective indictments. A judge determined two different circumstances and not using a jury, acquitting one of many defendants and partially acquitting the other.

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

“We’re disappointed,” defense attorney James Monroe stated after the decision, “but we acknowledged from the start that folk here (in Washington, D.C.) had been quite traumatized by what transpired on Jan. 6. And I believe we noticed a few of this expressed as we speak.”

Prosecutors requested for Webster to be detained, however the decide agreed to let him stay free until his sentencing. He’ll proceed to be monitored with an ankle bracelet. The decide said it was a “shut call” whether or not to jail him instantly 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 dwelling 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 steel pole when he approached the Capitol, after listening to Trump tackle thousands of supporters.

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

Rathbun’s physique digital camera 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 motorcycle racks.

The body digital camera video shows that Webster slammed one of many bike racks at Rathbun earlier than the officer reached out with an open left hand and struck the right side of Webster’s face. Webster mentioned it felt as if he had been hit by a freight prepare.

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

Rathbun said he was attempting to maneuver Webster again from a security perimeter that he and other officers have been struggling to take care of.

After Rathbun struck his face, Webster swung a steel flag pole on the officer in a downward chopping motion, striking a motorbike rack. Rathbun grabbed the damaged pole from Webster, who charged on the officer, tackled him to the bottom and grabbed his gasoline masks.

Rathbun testified that he started choking because the chin strap on his gasoline masks pressed against his throat. Webster said he grabbed Rathbun by the fuel mask because he needed 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, 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; coming into and remaining in restricted grounds with a harmful weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in restricted grounds with a harmful weapon; engaging in physical 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 private security element. He served within 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 law enforcement. Greater 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, said he was following orders from Trump. A choose listening to testimony with out a jury acquitted Matthew Martin, a New Mexico man who stated outnumbered law enforcement officials allowed him and others to enter the Capitol through the Rotunda doorways.

Two riot defendants didn’t testify at their trials earlier than jurors convicted them of all expenses, including interfering with officers. One of them, Thomas Robertson, was an off-duty police officer from Rocky Mount, Virginia. The opposite, Texas resident Man Wesley Reffitt, additionally 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.