Appeals court upholds retired NYPD officer’s 10-year prison sentence for Capitol riot attack

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a retired New York Police Department officer’s conviction and 10-year prison sentence for assaulting a police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021, siege at the U.S. Capitol.

A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected Thomas Webster’s claims that he was convicted by a biased jury.

Webster, a 20-year NYPD veteran, argued that the entire jury pool in Washington, D.C., was “presumptively prejudiced” against him. But the panel found no evidence that the jury pool had any preconceived notions about Webster, “or even knew who he was.”

Jurors rejected Webster’s claim that he was defending himself when he tackled Metropolitan Police Department officer Noah Rathbun and grabbed his gas mask. They convicted Webster of all six counts in his indictment, including a charge that he assaulted Rathbun with a dangerous weapon, a flagpole.

Webster drove to Washington from his home near Goshen, New York, to attend then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on Jan. 6. Webster was wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a Marine Corps flag on a metal pole when he joined the mob that stormed the Capitol.

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