A Washington, D.C., jury has ruled against an Ohio man who pinned the blame for his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot on Donald Trump.
Dustin Byron Thompson, 38, was found guilty Thursday on all six counts, including charges related to disrupting Congress’ efforts to formally certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. He also stole a coat rack and two bottles of liquor from the Capitol.
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton ordered Thompson to be detained until his sentencing because he considers him a flight risk. The judge excoriated the defendant, saying he believed Thompson was “weak-minded” and had lied on the stand about what he was thinking that day.
Walton also had choice words for Trump.
“The insurgency ― and it was, in effect, that ― is very troubling,” Walton said. “I think our democracy is in trouble because unfortunately we have charlatans, like the former president, in my view, who don’t care about democracy and only care about power.”
Testifying earlier this week, Thompson told the courtroom he viewed the then-president’s speech that day as his marching orders. Trump had ended his “Save America” rally outside the White House by urging his supporters to “fight like hell” against Joe Biden’s legitimate victory.
“If the president is giving you almost an order to do something, I felt obligated to do that,” Thompson said, according to NBC News.
He told jurors he grew up without any strong male role models, and felt like he “had to do something to gain [Trump’s] respect, his approval,” CNN reported.
Defense attorney Samuel Shamansky portrayed Trump as a man who shamelessly encouraged Thompson and other supporters to “do his dirty work” the day of the attack by attempting to overturn the election results. Shamansky portrayed his client as being in a vulnerable state at the time, having lost his job in the coronavirus pandemic.
Prosecutors countered the defendant’s arguments by reminding the court he was an adult capable of making his own decisions.
In his closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney William Dreher encouraged jurors not to overlook Thompson’s actions because of all the time spent in the courtroom on Trump’s actions. At one point in the trial, jurors heard the entirety of Trump’s rambling speech from Jan. 6, 2021.
“Defense counsel wants you to focus so much on what President Trump said on the morning of Jan. 6. He wants you to forget what his client did on the afternoon of Jan. 6,” Dreher said, per Politico.
Thompson had a co-defendant, Robert Anthony Lyon, who was also charged in connection with the attack but took a deal with prosecutors that involved pleading guilty. The two men drove together from Columbus, Ohio, to Silver Spring, Maryland, to attend the “Save America” rally. They took an Uber into Washington that morning.
Thompson’s trial was the third so far for a Capitol rioter; the other two also resulted in guilty verdicts. While many of the nearly 800 defendants have been taking plea deals, others are still awaiting trials of their own.