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 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 lower than three hours earlier than they convicted Webster of all six counts in his indictment, including a charge that he assaulted Metropolitan Police Department officer Noah Rathbun with a dangerous weapon, a steel flagpole. The assault charge alone is punishable by as much as 20 years in prison, though sentencing guidelines doubtless will suggest a significantly shorter prison term.

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 choose 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 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 surprised that he would even make that defense argument,” stated 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 in any respect.”

Another juror, who also spoke on situation of anonymity, mentioned Webster’s self-defense declare “just didn’t stack up.”

U.S. District Choose 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 had been convicted of all fees of their respective indictments. A choose decided two different circumstances without a jury, acquitting one of many defendants and partially acquitting the opposite.

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

“We’re disillusioned,” defense attorney James Monroe said after the decision, “but we acknowledged from the beginning that folk right here (in Washington, D.C.) had been quite traumatized by what transpired on Jan. 6. And I believe we saw some of this expressed at the moment.”

Prosecutors asked for Webster to be detained, but the choose agreed to let him remain free until his sentencing. He’ll continue to be monitored with an ankle bracelet. The decide said it was a “shut name” whether or not to jail him immediately however noted that he has complied with present conditions of release 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 “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 handle 1000's of supporters.

Webster mentioned he went to the Capitol to “petition” lawmakers to “relook” on the results of the 2020 presidential election. But he testified that he didn’t intend to intervene with Congress’ joint session to certify the Electoral Faculty vote.

Rathbun’s physique digicam captured Webster shouting profanities and insults before they made any bodily 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 physique digicam video shows 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 facet of Webster’s face. Webster mentioned it felt as though he had been hit by a freight practice.

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

Rathbun stated he was trying to move Webster again from a safety perimeter that he and other officers have been struggling to take care of.

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

Rathbun testified that he began choking as the chin strap on his gas mask pressed in opposition to his throat. Webster said he grabbed Rathbun by the fuel mask 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 accidents brought on by Webster, but jurors saw 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 dangerous weapon; civil dysfunction; entering 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 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 personal security detail. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1985 to 1989 before joining the NYPD in 1991.

Greater than 780 individuals have been charged with riot-related federal crimes. The Justice Division says greater than 245 of them have been charged with assaulting or impeding legislation enforcement. More 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 listening to testimony with no jury acquitted Matthew Martin, a New Mexico man who stated outnumbered police officers allowed him and others to enter the Capitol by way of the Rotunda doors.

Two riot defendants didn’t testify at their trials earlier than jurors convicted them of all prices, together with 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, 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 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.