In the first federal assault prosecution emanating from the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol, a jury found Ex-NYPD cop Thomas Webster guilty on six crimes, including attacking a police officer.

Webster’s trial is the fourth time a jury has heard a defendant’s case since January 6, with all four instances ending in convictions on all counts.

Webster was convicted guilty of assaulting Noah Rathbun of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, who testified at the trial — as did Webster himself, who frequently talked directly to the jury and referred to Rathbun as a “rogue cop.”

Webster pushed his way through a crowd toward bike racks that served as a police cordon, according to testimony and video from the brawl. He arrived at the front of the throng, wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a Marine Corps flag, yelling “commie mother———-” at the officers before focusing on Rathbun and yelling, “take your s—- off!”

“That’s what people say when they want to fight,” Rathbun said during his three-hour testimony. “It’s very common.”

Before tearing the bike racks apart, Webster threw a metal flagpole downward twice. As Rathbun backed away, Webster dashed up to him, tackled him, and then yanked his gas mask off. Rathbun said that while Webster grabbed at his mask, he choked on his chin strap.

Rathbun slapped Webster in the face while attempting to push him away, which constituted a key part of Webster’s defence. Webster, who claimed Rathbun had started the fight, claimed he yanked on Rathbun’s mask in self-defense.

“I felt like I was the cop and he was the protester,” Webster said on the stand.

The snow fencing, bike racks that formed a police barrier, and the Metro Police’s riot gear, flash bangs, and tear gas, according to US attorneys, meant Webster should have known he wasn’t allowed on Capitol grounds. They also said that throughout his 20 years as NYPD cop, he should have known.

“Thomas Webster and Officer Rathbun both swore oaths to protect the country. But only one of them actually fulfilled that oath on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol,” a U.S. attorney said. “And that was Officer Rathbun.”

The defence argued that the jury should be seen the “whole truth.”

“When are acts of police misconduct acceptable?” defense attorney James Monroe said. Referring to the flagpole, Monroe said, “Sometimes, a flagpole is all it is. It’s all it was.”

Webster was found guilty of assaulting, resisting, or impeding an officer with a dangerous weapon; civil disorder; entering and remaining in restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon; engaging in physical violence in restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon; and engaging in an act of physical violence on Capitol grounds with a dangerous weapon.

The date for sentencing has been scheduled for September 2. Webster will not be held in detention prior to his sentencing, according to Judge Amit Mehta.

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