WASHINGTON — A federal jury on Monday convicted a New York Police Division veteran of assaulting an officer throughout the U.S. Capitol riot, rejecting his declare that he was defending himself when he tackled the officer and grabbed his gasoline masks.
Thomas Webster, a 20-year NYPD veteran, was the primary Capitol riot defendant to be tried on an assault cost and the primary to current a jury with a self-defense argument. Webster, who was sporting a face masks in court docket, confirmed no apparent response to the decision discovering him responsible of all six counts towards him, one in all which is punishable by as much as 20 years in jail.
Webster, 56, testified that he was attempting to guard himself from a “rogue cop” who punched him within the face. He additionally accused the Metropolitan Police Division officer, Noah Rathbun, of instigating the confrontation.
Rathbun testified that he didn’t punch or choose 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.
Webster’s jury trial was the fourth for a Capitol riot case. The primary three defendants to get a jury trial had been convicted of all fees of their respective indictments. A choose determined two different instances with no jury, acquitting one of many defendants and partially acquitting the opposite.
A grand jury indicted Webster on six counts, together with a cost that he assaulted Rathbun with a harmful weapon, a steel flag pole. Webster wasn’t accused of getting into the Capitol on Jan. 6. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 2.
Prosecutors requested for Webster to be detained pending sentencing, however the choose agreed to let him stay free till that listening to. He’ll be monitored with an ankle bracelet. The choose stated it was a “shut name” whether or not to jail him instantly however famous that he has complied with present circumstances of launch and doesn’t have any prior convictions.
Webster drove alone to Washington, D.C., from his dwelling 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 steel pole when he approached the Capitol, after listening to Trump tackle hundreds 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 intervene with Congress’ joint session to certify the Electoral School vote.
Rathbun’s physique 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 physique digicam video reveals that Webster slammed one of many bike racks at Rathbun earlier than the officer reached out with an open left hand and struck the suitable aspect of Webster’s face. Webster stated it felt as if he had been hit by a freight practice.
“It was a tough hit, and all I needed to do was defend myself,” Webster stated.
Webster additionally stated he believed Rathbun was coming after him and recalled pondering, “He’s gone rogue.”
Rathbun stated he was attempting to maneuver Webster again from a safety perimeter that he and different officers had been struggling to take care of.
After Rathbun struck his face, Webster swung a steel flag pole on the officer in a downward chopping movement, hanging a motorcycle 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 began choking because the chin strap on his gasoline masks pressed towards his throat.
“That’s not a place that anybody needs to be in,” Rathbun stated.
Webster stated he grabbed Rathbun by the gasoline masks as a result of he needed the officer to see his fingers.
Through the trial’s closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Lawyer Brian Kelly urged jurors to reject Webster’s self-defense argument.
“Don’t let the defendant off the hook for what he did that day,” Kelly stated.
Protection legal professional James Monroe stated Webster had a proper to defend himself towards a “dangerous cop” who was utilizing extreme pressure.
“Get behind the reality. And I’m speaking about the entire reality,” Monroe advised jurors.
Rathbun reported a hand damage from a separate encounter with a rioter contained in the Capitol. He didn’t report any accidents brought on by Webster, however jurors noticed pictures of leg bruises that Rathbun attributed to his confrontation with the retired officer.
A Metropolitan Police Division detective who investigated stated Rathbun didn’t recall his encounter with Webster a number of days after the riot. Rathbun stated seeing the physique digicam video refreshed his reminiscence.
Webster confronted counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer utilizing a harmful weapon; civil dysfunction; getting into and remaining in restricted grounds with a harmful weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in restricted grounds with a harmful weapon; partaking 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 non-public safety element. He served within the U.S. Marine Corps from 1985 to 1989 earlier than becoming a member of 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. Greater than 100 officers had 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 Joe Biden’s presidential victory, stated he was following orders from then-President Donald Trump. A choose listening to testimony with no jury acquitted Matthew Martin, a New Mexico man who stated outnumbered cops allowed him and others to enter the Capitol by the Rotunda doorways.
Two riot defendants didn’t testify at their trials earlier than jurors convicted them of all fees, 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 Man Wesley Reffitt, additionally was convicted of storming the Capitol with a holstered handgun.
U.S. District Decide Trevor McFadden, a Trump nominee who acquitted Martin of all fees, additionally 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.
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