Thomas Webster, a former New York Police Department officer who assaulted a U.S. Capitol police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, the longest sentence yet of any January 6 defendant, CNN reports. Video footage played during the trial showed Webster, clad in police-issued body armor, swinging a metal flagpole at officer Noah Rathbun before crossing police barriers at the Capitol and tackling Rathbun, choking him with the officer's chinstrap. Webster was found guilty of all six charges he faced, five of which were felonies.
Webster claimed self-defense — he testified that he was only engaged in an act of professional courtesy by showing Rathbun his hands — but the jury disbelieved him and Judge Amit Mehta forcefully denounced his testimony as "utterly fanciful." At the hearing, Webster tearfully pleaded for mercy and apologized to Rathbun, who sat in the back of the courtroom. He said he "failed to have the courage to contain" himself that day. James Monroe, Webster's attorney, had urged the judge to sentence Webster to time served for what he called "seconds of stupidity" and blamed former President Donald Trump and the Republican party for turning Webster and "otherwise decent, law abiding individuals ... against fellow Americans."