In a recent development, a federal appeals court has upheld the conviction and 10-year prison sentence of a retired New York Police Department (NYPD) officer, Thomas Webster, for assaulting a police officer during the January 6, 2021, siege at the U.S. Capitol. The decision was made by a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Webster, a 20-year veteran of the NYPD, had claimed that he was convicted by a biased jury. He argued that the jury pool in Washington, D.C., where his trial took place, was "presumptively prejudiced" against him. However, the panel found no evidence to support his claims, stating that the jury pool had no preconceived notions about Webster or even knew who he was.

The jury rejected Webster's claim of self-defense when he tackled Metropolitan Police Department officer Noah Rathbun and grabbed his gas mask during the Capitol siege. Webster was convicted of all six counts in his indictment, including the charge of assaulting Rathbun with a dangerous weapon, a flagpole.

Webster had traveled from his home near Goshen, New York, to attend then-President Donald Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally near the White House on January 6. He was wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a Marine Corps flag on a metal pole when he joined the mob that stormed the Capitol.

Notably, Trump had nominated two of the three judges who decided Webster's appeal, but the appellate court panel stated that Webster had not provided enough evidence to show that the jury pool in Washington was "structurally incapable" of producing fair juries for Capitol riot defendants.

The ruling highlighted that while the District of Columbia may have a history of voting for Democratic candidates, this does not automatically imply bias among individuals in adjudicating criminal conduct cases. The court emphasized that political inclinations of the population do not determine an individual's ability to serve impartially.

Webster's 10-year prison sentence is one of the longest among the hundreds of Capitol riot cases. He was the first defendant from the January 6 events to be tried on an assault charge and the first to present a self-defense argument. As of now, over 850 people have been sentenced for Capitol riot convictions, with only 10 receiving longer prison terms than Webster, according to court records reviewed by the Associated Press.

The panel also rejected Webster's argument that the length of his sentence was "substantively unreasonable" when compared to other defendants involved in the Capitol riot cases. With this decision, Webster's conviction and sentence now stand, marking an important milestone in the legal aftermath of the events on January 6, 2021.

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