New York cop who assaulted officer at Capitol gets harshest Jan. 6 sentence to date

Mehta stated he considered Webster’s conduct as among the many most egregious of any defendant sentenced to date. Until Thursday, the lengthiest sentences had been given to Texas militia member Guy Reffitt and native Virginia police officer Thomas Robertson, who had been convicted by juries of trying to impede congressional proceedings.

It’s the most recent in a string of steeper sentences which have been issued as rioters dealing with felony prices — a few of whom have taken their circumstances to trial — be taught their destiny from the judges who have presided over their circumstances for greater than a 12 months.

Images of Webster trying to rip the fuel masks off of Rathbun’s face amid broader chaos at the Capitol are among the many most indelible photos to emerge from the Jan. 6 assault. Mehta expressed incredulity that Webster took the stand in his personal protection and tried to argue that his effort to rip the officer’s fuel masks off was actually simply to present him his palms and show he wasn’t a menace.

“There is no doubt in my mind that your conception of what had happened that day and as you described it was utterly fanciful and incredible,” Mehta stated.

Mehta stated that whereas any violence towards a police officer can be “bad enough,” that the assault occurred as a part of a mob assault meant to disrupt the switch of presidential energy added weight to the crime.

“This happened in the context of something bigger,” he stated. (*6*)

“We simply cannot have a country,” he stated, “in which people who are on the losing side of an election think you can use violence and physical force to undo that result. We cannot function as a country if people think they can behave violently when they lose an election.”