Capitol riots suspect from Goshen wants trial moved out of D.C. due to alleged jury bias
A Goshen man charged with tackling a police officer outside the U.S. Capitol last Jan. 6 has asked a judge to move his trial out of Washington, D.C., arguing that any jury that hears his case there would be biased against him.
In court papers filed Wednesday, the attorney for retired New York City police officer Thomas Webster argued that saturation coverage of the Capitol riots by Washington media, combined with the overwhelmingly Democratic population and huge number of federal workers living there, would impel D.C. jurors to convict his client, regardless of the evidence debated in court.
"As a result of these intimate connections, District residents see themselves as victims of the events which transpired on January 6th," wrote attorney James Monroe of Goshen.
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Webster, a 55-year-old former Marine who has owned a landscaping business since retiring from the NYPD in 2011, is set to stand trial on seven charges in U.S. District Court on April 4 after rejecting a plea offer from prosecutors. The charges include felony counts of civil disorder and assaulting a police officer with a dangerous weapon.
Webster is one of more than 700 people charged with participating in the Jan. 6 riots and the first of 13 defendants from the Hudson Valley who is scheduled to stand trial. Two other local suspects have pleaded guilty.
At least two other pre-emptive attempts by fellow riot suspects to move their trials from Washington before jury selection have been shot down.
A judge in October rejected a request by alleged militia member Guy Reffitt to transfer his trial to his home state of Texas, saying the court's practice has been to wait for jury selection to begin before considering arguments about potential bias. Reffitt's trial is set to start Feb. 28.
Another judge in December turned down a request by Kyle Fitzsimons of Maine to move his trial on 10 felony counts, also calling the argument premature before attorneys began questioning prospective jurors.
In addition to Webster, an Iowa woman and her son - both charged with participating in the Jan. 6 riots - also filed motions this week to move their trials out of D.C. based on a presumption that jurors will be biased against them. All three defendants cited polls of Washington voters that found majorities believed the defendants had committed crimes.
The poll invoked by Webster's lawyer reportedly found that 84% of 400 surveyed Washington residents held negative views of the riot suspects, and that 52% said they would likely find one guilty if chosen as a juror.
Webster's motion for a venue change also noted that 92% of D.C. voters who cast ballots in the 2020 election supported President Joe Biden. That "lopsided political makeup" made it impossible to find a jury "that is not entirely composed of people preordained to find Webster - a presumed Trump supporter - guilty," his attorney wrote.
The motion didn't specify where other than D.C. the trial should be held.
Webster is charged with assaulting a D.C. police officer who was guarding the U.S. Capitol against an advancing crowd of Donald Trump supporters, wrestling the cop to the ground and pulling so hard on his gas mask that it cut off the officer's breathing. He is not accused of entering the Capitol in the ensuring siege that interrupted the certification of Biden's election victory.
Webster's attorney has indicated he will argue at trial that his client acted in self-defense and that the cop provoked the attack by punching Webster.
Webster has been confined to his home since Judge Amit Mehta released him from a Virginia jail last jail. Webster had spent more than four months behind bars after turning himself in to the FBI in New Windsor last Feb. 22.
cmckenna@th-record.com
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Capitol riots suspect from Goshen asks judge to move trial out of D.C.
