Guy Reffitt guilty on all counts: 1st capital riot trial WAPO

[lindysalsagal]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/03/08/guy-reffitt-trial-verdict/

Guy Reffitt guilty on all counts in first Capitol riot trial


By Rachel Weiner and Spencer S. Hsu
Today at 1:43 p.m. EST

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=691

“I’m taking the Capitol with everyone else … I think we have the numbers to make it happen,” Reffitt said in an allegedly self-recorded video at a Trump-led rally at the Ellipse. Referring to House Speaker Nancy A. Pelosi (D-Calif.), the defendant said in several expletive-laden variations that the group would drag lawmakers “out kicking and screaming” and he wanted to see her head hit every stair on the way down.

Video, geolocation data from his phone and police testimony showed that Reffitt breached the Capitol’s barricaded grounds after 1 p.m., then confronted officers guarding a key north staircase from the Lower West Terrace to the Senate wing level at 1:47 p.m. Undeterred by pepper balls and fired plastic projectiles, Reffitt advanced step-by-step up a banister, using his megaphone and waving his arms to encourage those behind him over the next eight minutes.

At 2:09 p.m., members of that crowd breached police lines and broke into the building, Berkower said. Reffitt’s “decision to step forward and take on police officers allowed the crowd behind not just to advance but to adapt,” she said. The group tore down tarp to protect themselves and climbed up exposed inauguration state scaffolding to flank officers.

Reffitt later told fellow Three Percenters in a Zoom call played in court that police “stopped me but fired up the crowd. They couldn’t be stopped after that … We all had weapons but never fired a single round.”

[panader0]

1. Link?

[lindysalsagal]

2. I get WAPO alerts on my phone. I'll post the link when it appears.

By Rachel Weiner and Spencer S. Hsu
March 08 at 1:43 PM EST

The first trial in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach ended with a guilty verdict on all counts, a victory for federal prosecutors handling one of the largest investigations in U.S. history.

Guy Reffitt was found guilty of five felonies — obstruction of an official proceeding, interfering with police in a riot, transporting a firearm for that purpose, armed trespassing and witness tampering.

Reffitt, 49, traveled to D.C. from his home in Wylie, Tex., with an AR-15-style rifle and semiautomatic handgun, and went to the Capitol in what he called “full battle rattle,” including a handgun, a helmet, body armor, radio and flex-cuffs, according to government witnesses and evidence.

[malaise]

3. Good

Rec

[Nevilledog]

5. ...

Link to tweet

Tweet text:

JJ MacNab
@jjmacnab
After less than four hours of deliberation, the jury has a verdict in the first J6 criminal trial of Guy Reffitt (Texas.)
11:38 AM · Mar 8, 2022

[Nevilledog]

8. AP

Link to tweet

Tweet text:

The Associated Press
@AP
A Texas man was convicted of storming the U.S. Capitol with a holstered handgun in first trial stemming from Jan. 6 insurrection.

The outcome could have implications for hundreds of other defendants charged in the massive case.

apnews.com
Jury deliberations begin in 1st trial over Capitol riot
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal jury began deliberating on Tuesday in the case against a Texas man whose trial is the first for the hundreds of people charged in the riot at the U.S. Capitol last year.
11:52 AM · Mar 8, 2022

[lagomorph777]

6. Yes!!! I'm sure he'll get at least a week of probation for this.

[Tomconroy]

9. This guy will get serious time.

[obamanut2012]

10. Just stop the doomposting

He will not breathe free air for a long time.

[lagomorph777]

13. I hope with all my being that you are correct.

Sooner or later, one of these cases has to go our way.

[Nevilledog]

11. Count 2 has max of 20 years

[lindysalsagal]

12. Guy Reffitt, first Jan. 6 rioter to go to trial, found guilty on all counts

The first Capitol defendant to take his case to trial was convicted of five charges.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/guy-reffitt-first-jan-6-rioter-go-trial-found-guilty-counts-rcna19041

March 8, 2022, 1:45 PM EST
By Ryan J. Reilly

WASHINGTON — The first Jan. 6 defendant to take his case to trial has been found guilty on five counts related to his role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Guy Reffitt, a Texas man who attempted to storm the U.S. Capitol while allegedly armed with a gun and zip ties, was convicted of all five counts he was charged with, including transport of a firearm in support of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding. Jurors began deliberating on Tuesday morning after a week-long trial in which they heard testimony from Reffitt's teenage son Jackson Reffitt, who tipped off the FBI about his father before the Jan. 6 attack.

Prosecutors, quoting Reffitt's own words, argued that the defendant "lit the match" on the west side of the Capitol, where some of the most brutal attacks on law enforcement took place. Video shows Reffitt, with a blue jacket that covers his waistband, leading the mob up the steps of the Capitol, besides the platform where Joe Biden was inaugurated.

The most damning evidence against the Donald Trump supporter was produced by the defendant himself. Over and over again — both before and after Jan. 6 — he recorded himself in various forums talking about what he planned to do and what he did. He even bragged about his conduct on a Zoom call that he recorded himself, which the government found on an external hard drive.

[lagomorph777]

14. As the leader of the pack, and with a ton of self-incriminating evidence,

conviction was just about mandatory. Will the judge mete out the appropriate punishment?

[Kingofalldems]

15. Kick and rec for Trump's secret pals.