On Jan. 6, Thomas Webster of Goshen, New York, approached the police barricades at the U.S. Capitol and screamed at outnumbered police. Then, as officers struggled to keep him and other rioters at bay, video footage shows Webster hauling off at Metropolitan Police officer Noah Rathbun.
With a Marine Corps flagpole in hand, Webster is seen swinging the pole, trying to beat the officer. Then Webster tackled Rathbun, yanked his protective gas mask off his face and appeared to try gouging his eyes out.
Prosecutors recommended Webster serve up to 17.5 years though for all of the charges he faced, federal guidelines recommended a sentence of 21 years.
In addition to assault, jurors found Webster guilty of entering restricted grounds with a weapon, disorderly conduct with a weapon, physical violence with a weapon, engaging in an act of violence at the U.S. Capitol, and civil disorder.
At his trial, Webster argued his actions were taken in self-defense and that the only reason he assaulted Rathbun was because Rathbun started it. Video footage from the day shows Rathbun pushing Webster around his face but the moment was fleeting.
At trial, Rathbun told jurors he only put his hand about Webster’s face because in the fray of trying to keep others away, his hand slipped from Webster’s shoulder.
Webster called it the “hardest hit of his life” when he took the stand this spring.
At 56 years old, Webster’s ten-year sentence is an especially stiff one and indeed, it is the steepest one to emerge from Jan. 6 trials to date. Another police officer who faced jurors, Rocky Mount, Virginia cop Thomas Robertson received a seven year sentence last month. Guy Reffitt, a Wylie, Texas man and member of the extremist militia known as the Three Percenters, was sentenced to 7 years in prison last month too.
Until Webster, their sentences were the harshest yet.
But Webster’s conduct, Mehta said Thursday, warranted it.
“I do wish you had not come to Washington, D.C. I do wish you had stayed home in New York and not come to the Capitol that day because all of us would be far better off. Not just you, but your family and your country. Yet here we are,” Mehta said. “Yet here we are.”
During sentencing, Webster’s attorney James Monroe offered a vigorous defense of his client, and pleaded with Mehta.
The “46 seconds” of Webster’s poor decision-making on Jan. 6 should not override every other good deed he has done, nor should it override his military or police service, Monroe said.
Before rendering the sentence, Mehta acknowledged those 46 seconds but didn’t see it quite the same.
Though Mehta said he was “terribly sorry” that Webster had effectively thrown his life away in less than a minute in Jan. 6, it was important, that he understand the gravity of his actions and particularly, as a veteran and former police officer.
“Jan. 6 was not just one day or moment in time. It is a day that continues to affect the very fabric of this country and the lives of real human beings, of Americans,” he said.
“What you did that day is really hard to put into words,” Mehta said.
“The idea that you could sit on that witness stand, under oath and tell those jurors that the reason you had your hands in his eyes and on his face mask was to show him your hands, to show him you’re not going to hurt him… is just not believable,” Mehta said.
Rathbun did not punch Webster. He did not stumble. He was not knocked over, Mehta said.
“Officer Rathbun knows he was simply doing his job, trying to keep you at bay and to hold back thousands of people who had no business being there and you were the most aggressive,” the judge added.
Meanwhile on Thursday, Julian Khater of State College, Pennsylvania—who sprayed three police officers with chemical irritants on Jan. 6—pleaded guilty to assaulting police with a deadly weapon. Khater faced multiple charges, including obstruction of an official proceeding and faced a sentence of up to 20 years in prison without a plea bargain. He is likely to serve far less and according to The Washington Post, he and his attorneys are angling for a sentence of six to seven years.
Khater doused Capitol Police Office Brian Sicknick with chemical spray at close range during the insurrection. Sicknick would collapse later on Jan. 6, suffering no less than two strokes before he would finally die 24 hours later of what the coroner called “natural causes.”
Prosecutors have not alleged that Khater, nor his co-defendant and longtime friend George Tanios—who joined in the spraying of Sicnick and other officers—caused Sicknick’s death.