ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A jury has convicted a Navy reservist from Virginia accused of storming the Capitol on Jan. 6 on separate fees that he illegally possessed silencers disguised to seem like innocuous cleansing provides.
The conviction Wednesday night time towards Hatchet Velocity in U.S. District Court docket in Alexandria comes a month after a jury failed to succeed in a verdict in his first trial, leading to a mistrial.
On the retrial this week, the jury wanted only some hours of deliberation earlier than convicting him on all three counts of unlawfully possessing unregistered silencers.
Velocity’s case is noteworthy not solely due to his alleged participation within the Jan. 6 riot with the far-right Proud Boys group, but additionally as a result of he espoused antisemitic views in undercover recordings and mentioned methods for eradicating the Jewish inhabitants within the U.S.
The case towards Velocity in Virginia hinged on three gadgets he purchased in March 2021 that the federal government argued have been unregistered silencers. Velocity contended the gadgets are “solvent traps” to gather extra liquid that spills out when a gun is cleaned.
Prosecutors stated whereas the corporate promoting the gadgets marketed them as solvent traps, they’re designed to be simply transformed into silencers, which is why folks spend greater than $300 for them.
The gadgets purchased by Velocity are product of titanium and comprise baffles that may be discovered on silencers. They are often screwed onto the threaded barrel of a 9 mm handgun. A firearms knowledgeable for the federal government stated it takes about 10 minutes to transform the gadget into a completely useful silencer through the use of a hand drill to make a gap ultimately for a bullet to go via.
Prosecutors stated Velocity obtained the silencers throughout a post-Capitol riot panic-buying spree by which he spent greater than $40,000 on firearms, ammunition and equipment. He purchased the solvent traps in March 2021 after studying that the supply of a number of silencers he had simply bought can be considerably delayed by paperwork and registration necessities, they stated.
Velocity’s attorneys, although, contended that the gadgets have been certainly solvent traps, not silencers. They stated Velocity by no means modified the gadgets to make them useful as silencers, and that he had no intent to interrupt the legislation.
The protection urged jurors to disregard Velocity’s antisemitic philosophy.
“A few of Mr. Velocity’s ideas could also be distasteful however his conduct on this case was not legal,” protection lawyer Courtney Dixon informed jurors.
Prosecutors performed recordings by which Velocity informed an undercover FBI worker that he understood the gadgets’ true function was as a silencer.
Prosecutors stated the legislation governing silencers covers gadgets supposed to be used as a silencer, no matter whether or not they’re useful or bought beneath one other title.
“The legislation doesn’t enable that sort of gamesmanship,” prosecutor Thomas Traxler stated in closing arguments Wednesday.
Lately, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has shut down and seized a number of web sites that bought solvent traps, together with the one from which Velocity bought his gadgets.
Velocity was taken into custody after Wednesday’s verdict and awaits sentencing in April. Every of the three counts incorporates a possible most sentence of 10 years. Whereas Velocity is unlikely to obtain a most sentence, it is possible that the sentence will exceed any time period that’s imposed on him for his participation within the Jan. 6 assault.
His lawyer, public defender Brooke Rupert, stated Hatch intends to attraction the decision.
Velocity is scheduled to go on trial in that case in Washington, D.C., later this 12 months. The case includes 4 misdemeanor counts, together with disorderly conduct within the Capitol. His attorneys there have filed a movement in search of to restrict proof to the jury about Velocity’s ideology.
Velocity is amongst greater than 940 folks arrested in reference to the riot by which former President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol whereas Congress was certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
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