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 during 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 charge and the first 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 Division officer Noah Rathbun with a harmful weapon, a metallic flagpole. The assault charge alone is punishable by as much as 20 years in prison, though sentencing guidelines likely will suggest a significantly shorter jail 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 pick a combat 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 decision said videos capturing the officer’s assault from multiple angles had been essential proof rebutting Webster’s self-defense argument.

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

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

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is scheduled to sentence 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 had been convicted of all fees of their respective indictments. A choose decided two different instances with out a jury, acquitting one of many defendants and partially acquitting the opposite.

Webster, who wore a mask in court, confirmed no obvious response to the decision.

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

Prosecutors requested for Webster to be detained, however the decide agreed to let him stay free till his sentencing. He’ll continue to be monitored with an ankle bracelet. The judge stated it was a “close call” whether or not to jail him immediately however famous that he has complied with present conditions 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 steel pole when he approached the Capitol, after listening to Trump address thousands of supporters.

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

Rathbun’s body 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 bike racks.

The body digital camera video exhibits 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 side of Webster’s face. Webster said it felt as though he had been hit by a freight train.

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

Rathbun stated he was attempting to move Webster back from a security perimeter that he and other officers have been struggling to maintain.

After Rathbun struck his face, Webster swung a metallic flag pole on the officer in a downward chopping motion, placing a bike 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 in opposition to his throat. Webster mentioned he grabbed Rathbun by the gasoline mask as a result of he wished the officer to see his arms.

Rathbun reported a hand harm from a separate encounter with a rioter inside the Capitol. He didn’t report any accidents attributable to Webster, but jurors noticed photos of leg bruises that Rathbun attributed to his confrontation with the retired officer.

Webster confronted counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer utilizing a harmful weapon; civil disorder; coming into and remaining in restricted grounds with a harmful weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon; participating in bodily violence in restricted grounds with a dangerous 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 personal security element. He served within the U.S. Marine Corps from 1985 to 1989 before becoming a member of the NYPD in 1991.

Greater than 780 folks have been charged with riot-related federal crimes. The Justice Division says greater than 245 of them have been charged with assaulting or impeding law 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, stated he was following orders from Trump. A decide hearing testimony without a jury acquitted Matthew Martin, a New Mexico man who mentioned outnumbered cops allowed him and others to enter the Capitol by way of the Rotunda doors.

Two riot defendants didn’t testify at their trials before jurors convicted them of all fees, including interfering with officers. One of them, Thomas Robertson, was an off-duty police officer from Rocky Mount, Virginia. The other, Texas resident Man Wesley Reffitt, also was convicted of storming the Capitol with a holstered handgun.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump nominee who acquitted Martin of all fees, also presided over a bench trial for New Mexico elected official Couy Griffin. McFadden convicted Griffin of illegally entering restricted Capitol grounds but acquitted him of partaking in disorderly conduct.