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 throughout the U.S. Capitol riot, rejecting his claim that he was defending himself when he tackled the officer and grabbed his gasoline mask.

Thomas Webster, a 20-year NYPD veteran, was the first Capitol riot defendant to be tried on an assault cost and the primary 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, together with a cost that he assaulted Metropolitan Police Department officer Noah Rathbun with a dangerous weapon, a metallic flagpole. The assault cost alone is punishable by as much as 20 years in prison, though sentencing pointers possible will suggest a significantly shorter prison time period.

Webster, 56, testified that he was attempting to protect himself from a “rogue cop” who punched him within the face. He also accused Rathbun of instigating the confrontation.

Rathbun testified that he didn’t punch or decide a battle 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 stated videos capturing the officer’s assault from a number of angles have been crucial proof rebutting Webster’s self-defense argument.

“I assume we were all shocked that he would even make that protection argument,” said a juror who spoke on situation of anonymity. “There was no dissention amongst us at all. We unanimously agreed that there was no self-defense argument right here at all.”

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

U.S. District Decide 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 also have been convicted of all fees in their respective indictments. A decide decided two other circumstances with no jury, acquitting one of many defendants and partially acquitting the other.

Webster, who wore a masks in court docket, showed no obvious response to the decision.

“We’re disappointed,” defense lawyer James Monroe mentioned after the verdict, “but we recognized from the beginning that folks right here (in Washington, D.C.) were fairly traumatized by what transpired on Jan. 6. And I feel we saw a few of this expressed in the present day.”

Prosecutors requested for Webster to be detained, but the judge agreed to let him remain free until his sentencing. He’ll proceed to be monitored with an ankle bracelet. The decide stated it was a “close call” whether or not to jail him immediately however famous that he has complied with current conditions of launch and doesn’t have any prior convictions.

Webster drove alone to Washington from his house close to 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 metal pole when he approached the Capitol, after listening to Trump handle hundreds of supporters.

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

Rathbun’s body digicam captured Webster shouting profanities and insults earlier than 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 motorbike racks.

The body camera video exhibits that Webster slammed one of the bike racks at Rathbun before the officer reached out with an open left hand and struck the suitable aspect of Webster’s face. Webster stated it felt as though he had been hit by a freight train.

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

Rathbun stated he was making an attempt to maneuver Webster again from a safety perimeter that he and other officers were struggling to take care of.

After Rathbun struck his face, Webster swung a steel flag pole at the officer in a downward chopping movement, putting a motorbike 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 started choking because the chin strap on his gasoline masks pressed against his throat. Webster stated he grabbed Rathbun by the gasoline mask because he wanted the officer to see his hands.

Rathbun reported a hand damage from a separate encounter with a rioter inside the Capitol. He didn’t report any accidents attributable to Webster, but jurors noticed photographs 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 disorder; entering 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 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 private safety element. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1985 to 1989 before joining the NYPD in 1991.

More than 780 folks have been charged with riot-related federal crimes. The Justice Department says more 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, stated he was following orders from Trump. A decide listening to testimony without a jury acquitted Matthew Martin, a New Mexico man who stated outnumbered cops allowed him and others to enter the Capitol by the Rotunda doors.

Two riot defendants didn’t testify at their trials earlier than jurors convicted them of all fees, including interfering with officers. One among 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 charges, 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 engaging in disorderly conduct.