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 through 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 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, including a charge that he assaulted Metropolitan Police Division officer Noah Rathbun with a dangerous weapon, a steel flagpole. The assault cost alone is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, although sentencing pointers doubtless will recommend a considerably shorter jail 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 assume we had been all surprised that he would even make that protection argument,” stated a juror who spoke on condition of anonymity. “There was no dissention amongst us at all. We unanimously agreed that there was no self-defense argument here at all.”

Another juror, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, stated 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 have been convicted of all expenses in their respective indictments. A judge decided two other circumstances without a jury, acquitting one of many defendants and partially acquitting the opposite.

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

“We’re dissatisfied,” protection lawyer James Monroe said after the verdict, “but we acknowledged from the start that folk right here (in Washington, D.C.) were fairly traumatized by what transpired on Jan. 6. And I feel we noticed a few of this expressed at the moment.”

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 call” whether to jail him instantly however noted that he has complied with current situations of release and doesn’t have any prior convictions.

Webster drove alone to Washington from his home close to 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 thousands of supporters.

Webster stated 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 interfere with Congress’ joint session to certify the Electoral College vote.

Rathbun’s body digicam captured Webster shouting profanities and insults before 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 camera video shows that Webster slammed one of many bike racks at Rathbun before the officer reached out with an open left hand and struck the best facet of Webster’s face. Webster said it felt as though he had been hit by a freight practice.

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

Rathbun stated he was making an attempt to maneuver Webster again from a safety perimeter that he and different officers were struggling to keep up.

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

Rathbun testified that he started choking because the chin strap on his fuel masks pressed in opposition to his throat. Webster mentioned he grabbed Rathbun by the gas mask because he wanted the officer to see his hands.

Rathbun reported a hand harm from a separate encounter with a rioter contained in the Capitol. He didn’t report any injuries attributable to Webster, but jurors saw images 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; getting into and remaining in restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in restricted grounds with a harmful weapon; participating 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 non-public security detail. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1985 to 1989 earlier than joining the NYPD in 1991.

More than 780 folks have been charged with riot-related federal crimes. The Justice Department says greater than 245 of them have been charged with assaulting or impeding regulation 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, said he was following orders from Trump. A decide 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 the Rotunda doors.

Two riot defendants didn’t testify at their trials before jurors convicted them of all prices, together with interfering with officers. One in every of them, Thomas Robertson, was an off-duty police officer from Rocky Mount, Virginia. The opposite, 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 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.