A retired New York Police Department officer was sentenced on Thursday
to a record-setting 10 years in prison for attacking the U.S. Capitol
and using a metal flagpole to assault one of the police officers trying
to hold off a mob of Donald Trump supporters.

Thomas Webster’s prison sentence is the longest so far among roughly 250 people who have been punished for their conduct during the riot on Jan.
6, 2021. The previous longest was shared by two other rioters, who were sentenced separately to seven years and three months in prison.

Webster, a 20-year NYPD veteran, was the first Capitol riot defendant to
be tried on an assault charge and the first to present a self-defense
argument. A jury rejected Webster’s claim that he was defending himself
when he tackled Metropolitan Police Department officer Noah Rathbun and
grabbed his gas mask outside the Capitol on Jan. 6.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta sentenced Webster, 56, to 10 years in
prison plus three years of supervised release. He allowed Webster to
report to prison at a date to be determined instead of immediately
ordering him into custody.

“Mr. Webster, I don’t think you’re a bad person,” the judge said. “I think you were caught up in a moment. But as you know, even getting
caught up in a moment has consequences.”

Webster turned to apologize to Rathbun, who was in the courtroom but
didn’t address the judge. Webster said he wishes he had never come to Washington, D.C.

“I wish the horrible events of that day had never happened,” he told the judge.

The judge said Rathbun wasn’t Webster’s only victim on Jan. 6.

“The other victim was democracy, and that is not something that can be
taken lightly,” Mehta added.

https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-prisons-new-york-donald-trump-presidential-elections-62ca153f4ecf3b7e2f3605c5b799582f

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