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Orange County resident Thomas Webster, age 56, of the village of Florida, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Thursday, Sept. 1, after a jury convicted him of assaulting a Washington, DC police officer with a deadly weapon.
In May 2022, the jury found him guilty of five felonies and one misdemeanor for his actions during the Capitol breach.
Prosecutors had argued that Webster attacked the officer with a flag police and then tackled him to the ground before attempting to rip off his gas mask.
Webster, a former US Marine who once served on the protective detail of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, claimed self-defense during the trial, saying the police had used excessive force.
Judge Amit Mehta called that claim “an alternative truth,” according to reports.
"The video doesn't lie," Mehta said. "The jury saw through it, I saw through it, it wasn't that hard. And I'm sorry you thought you could get up there and suggest otherwise."
Webster’s lawyers had asked for a lower sentence and argued that he suffered from PTSD from his time working as a police officer.
“As a former Marine and retired police officer, Thomas Webster could readily see the growing dangers to law enforcement when he and other members of the mob targeted the Capitol on January 6th," US Attorney Matthew Graves said in a statement.
“He chose to escalate the situation, brutally going on the attack. Today’s sentence holds him accountable for his repeated attacks of an officer that day.”
Webster was the first defendant to stand trial on charges that included assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers using a deadly or dangerous weapon, a felony.
According to the government’s evidence, on Jan. 6, at approximately 2:30 p.m., Webster was among rioters on the other side of metal barricades set up by law enforcement officers attempting to secure the Lower West Terrace area of the Capitol.
Webster – who was carrying a large metal flagpole with a red US Marine Corps flag – approached an officer (Noah Rathbun) from the Metropolitan Police Department who was behind the metal gates, the government evidence showed.
He pointed his finger at the officer and began swearing at him, telling him, among other things to “take your sh--- off,” an apparent invitation to the officer to take off his badge and fight, the office said.
Webster then aggressively shoved the metal gate into the officer’s body, according to the US Attorney's Office. He raised the flagpole and forcefully swung it toward the officer.
The officer managed to wrest the flagpole away. Webster, however, then broke through the metal barricade, tackled the officer to the ground, and tried to remove his helmet and gas mask, choking him.
During this attack, the officer struggled to breathe, according to the government's evidence.
Following his prison term, Webster will be placed on three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $2,060 in restitution.
Since Jan. 6, 2021, nearly 800 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the US Capitol, including over 250 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
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