Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as people try to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. Photo / Getty Images
Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as people try to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. Photo / Getty Images
An Ohio man who claimed he was only "following presidential orders" from Donald Trump when he stormed the US Capitol was quickly convicted on Thursday (local time) of obstructing Congress from certifying Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory.
Taking less then three hours, a federal jury also found Dustin Byron Thompson, 38, guilty of five other offences including stealing a coat rack from an office inside the Capitol during the riot on January 6 of last year. The maximum sentence for the obstruction count, the lone felony, is 20 years' imprisonment.
Jurors rejected Thompson's novel defence, in which he blamed Trump and members of the president's inner circle for the insurrection and for his own actions.
The judge didn't buy that defence either, though he cast his own blame in Trump's direction after the verdict was announced.
"I think our democracy is in trouble," said District Judge Reggie Walton, adding that "charlatans" like Trump don't care about democracy, only about power.
"And as a result of that, it's tearing our country apart," the judge said.
Prosecutors did not ask for Thompson to be detained immediately, but Walton ordered him held and he was led away handcuffed. The judge said he didn't believe Thompson's story, felt he was a flight risk and was a danger to the public. Sentencing was set for July 20.
Thompson's jury trial was the third among hundreds of Capitol riot cases prosecuted by the US Justice Department. In the first two cases, jurors convicted both defendants of all charges.
Thompson, an exterminator who lost his job during the Covid-19 pandemic, was the first Capitol riot defendant to mount a trial defence blaming Trump and members of his inner circle for the insurrection.
Jurors heard attorneys' closing arguments earlier in the day.
Assistant US Attorney William Dreher said Thompson, a college-educated exterminator who lost his job during the Covid-19 pandemic, knew he was breaking the law when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol and, in his case, looted the Senate parliamentarian's office. The prosecutor told jurors Thompson's lawyer "wants you to think you have to choose between President Trump and his client".
"You don't have to choose, because this is not President Trump's trial. This is the trial for Dustin Thompson because of what he did at the Capitol on the afternoon on Jan 6," Dreher said.
Defence attorney Samuel Shamansky said Thompson hadn't avoided taking responsibility for his conduct that day.
"This shameful chapter in our history is all on TV," Shamansky told jurors.
Violent insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump storm the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in Washington. Photo / AP
But he said Thompson, unemployed and consumed by a steady diet of conspiracy theories, was vulnerable to Trump's lies about a stolen election. He described Thompson as a "pawn" and Trump as a "gangster" who abused his power to manipulate supporters.
"The vulnerable are seduced by the strong, and that's what happened here," Shamansky said.
Thompson's jury trial is the third among hundreds of Capitol riot cases prosecuted by the US Justice Department. In the first two cases, jurors convicted the defendants of all charges.
Judge Walton barred Thompson's lawyer from calling Trump and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as trial witnesses. But the judge ruled that jurors could hear recordings of speeches that Trump and Giuliani delivered on January 6, before the riot erupted. A recording of Trump's remarks was played.
Shamansky claimed Giuliani incited rioters by encouraging them to engage in "trial by combat" and Trump provoked the mob by saying that "if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country any more".
Dreher told jurors neither Trump nor Giuliani had the authority to "make legal" what Thompson did at the Capitol.
Thompson, who testified on Wednesday local time, admitted he joined the mob's attack and stole the coat rack and a bottle of bourbon from the Senate parliamentarian's office. He said he regretted his "disgraceful" behaviour.
"I can't believe the things that I did," he said. "Mob mentality and group think is very real and very dangerous."
Thompson said he believed Trump's false claim the election was stolen and was trying to stand up for the lame duck president.
"If the president is giving you almost an order to do something, I felt obligated to do that," he testified.
Thompson is charged with six counts: obstructing Congress' joint session to certify the Electoral College vote, theft of government property, entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
The obstruction count is the only felony charge. The rest are misdemeanours.
Protesters enter the Senate Chamber on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. Photo / Getty Images
Thompson drove from Ohio to Washington with a friend, Robert Lyon, who also was arrested less than a month after the riot. Lyon pleaded guilty in March to two misdemeanours — theft of government property and disorderly conduct — and is to be sentenced June 3.
Thompson and Lyon took an Uber ride into Washington on the morning of January 6. After Trump's speech, they headed to the Capitol.
Thompson was wearing a bulletproof vest when he entered the building and went to the parliamentarian's office, The FBI said agents later searched Lyon's cellphone and found a video that showed a ransacked office and Thompson yelling: "Wooooo! 'Merica Hey! This is our house!"
"[Trump] didn't force you to go. He didn't force you to walk every step of the way to the Capitol building, did he?" Dreher asked Thompson on Wednesday.
"I was following presidential orders, but yes," Thompson said.
More than 770 people have been charged with federal crimes arising from the riot. More than 250 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanours. Thompson is the fifth person to be tried on riot-related charges.
On Monday, a jury convicted a former Virginia police officer, Thomas Robertson, of storming the Capitol with another off-duty officer. Last month, a jury convicted a Texas man, Guy Reffitt, of storming the building with a holstered handgun.
A judge hearing testimony without a jury decided cases against two other Capitol riot defendants at separate bench trials. US District Judge Trevor McFadden acquitted one of them of all charges and partially acquitted the other.
