Jurors weigh man’s self-defense claim in Capitol riot trial

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors on Friday urged a jury to reject a retired New York City police officer’s argument that he was acting in self-defense when he swung a flagpole at police officers and tackled one of them during the U.S. Capitol riot.

Thomas Webster, a 20-year NYPD veteran, is the first Capitol riot defendant to be tried on an assault charge and the first to present a jury with a self-defense argument.

Jurors went home for the weekend about 30 minutes after getting the case. They’re due back Monday for deliberations.

During the trial’s closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Kelly urged jurors to use their common sense and trust what they saw on several videos that captured the confrontation. Kelly said the videos show Webster swing his metal flagpole like a club, “bull rush” Metropolitan Police Department officer Noah Rathbun and then grab the officer’s gas mask with both hands.

“Don’t let the defendant off the hook for what he did that day,” Kelly said.

Webster, 56, testified Thursday that he was trying to protect himself from a “rogue cop” who punched him in the face. He also accused Rathbun of instigating the confrontation.

Rathbun testified that he didn’t punch or pick a fight with Webster as a mob attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, disrupting Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.

Defense attorney James Monroe said Webster had a right to defend himself against a “bad cop” who was using excessive force.

“Acquit this man. Send him back to New York,” Monroe told jurors. “Get behind the truth. And I’m talking about the whole truth.”

Webster’s jury trial is the fourth for a Capitol riot case. The first three defendants to get a jury trial were convicted of all charges in their respective indictments. A judge decided two other cases without a jury, acquitting one of the defendants and partially acquitting the other.

A grand jury indicted Webster on six counts, including a charge that he assaulted Rathbun with a dangerous weapon, a metal flagpole. He wasn’t accused of entering the Capitol on Jan. 6.