WASHINGTON (AP) — An Arkansas man who propped his ft up on a desk in then-Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s workplace in the course of the U.S. Capitol riot was convicted on Monday of becoming a member of a mob’s assault on the constructing two years in the past.
A jury unanimously convicted Richard “Bigo” Barnett on all eight counts in his indictment together with felony expenses of civil dysfunction and obstruction of an official continuing.
Barnett lounging at a desk in Pelosi’s workplace made him probably the most memorable figures from the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, the day when Congress convened a joint session to certify President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
He’s scheduled to be sentenced in Might. Prosecutors sought to jail Barnett whereas he awaits sentencing however the decide denied that request so Barnett will stay free on sure circumstances.
Barnett, 62, testified final Thursday that he was searching for a toilet contained in the Capitol when he unwittingly entered Pelosi’s workplace and encountered two information photographers. He mentioned one of many photographers informed him to “act pure,” so he leaned again in a chair and flung his legs onto the desk.
“Did it daybreak on you that what you have been doing might trigger some bother?” protection legal professional Joseph McBride requested Barnett.
“I used to be simply within the second,” Barnett replied. “I’m simply form of going with the move at this level.”
Prosecutors mentioned Barnett had a stun gun tucked into his pants when he stormed the Capitol and invaded Pelosi’s workplace. He took a chunk of her mail and left behind a notice that mentioned, “Nancy, Bigo was right here,” punctuating the message with a sexist expletive.
Earlier than leaving Capitol grounds, Barnett used a bullhorn to present a speech to the group, shouting, “We took again our home, and I took Nancy Pelosi’s workplace!” in accordance with prosecutors.
Movies assist Barnett’s testimony that a crowd pushed him into the Capitol as he approached an entrance, inflicting him to briefly fall to his knees as he crossed the edge.
“We've no alternative!” he shouted repeatedly as he entered the Capitol.
After police ordered him and others to depart Pelosi’s workplace, Barnett realized he had left his American flag behind. Physique digicam video captured Barnett shouting at a police officer within the Rotunda for assist in retrieving the flag.
Greater than 940 individuals have been charged with federal crimes associated to the Jan.6 assault. Practically 500 of them have pleaded responsible. Barnett is one in all a number of dozen Capitol riot defendants whose case has gone to trial.
A grand jury indicted Barnett on eight expenses, together with felony counts of civil dysfunction and obstruction of an official continuing. He additionally faces a cost of coming into and remaining in restricted constructing or grounds with a lethal or harmful weapon — a stun gun with spikes hid inside a collapsible strolling stick.
Barnett, 62, is a retired firefighter from Gravette, Arkansas. He mentioned he regrets coming to Washington for the “Cease the Steal” rally the place then-President Donald Trump addressed a crowd of supporters.
“Two years of misplaced life. Distress for my household,” he mentioned.
A prosecutor informed jurors in the course of the trial’s opening statements that Barnett deliberate the journey for weeks and got here ready for violence.
McBride informed jurors that Barnett was only a “loopy man from Arkansas” who didn’t harm anyone on Jan. 6 and couldn’t have harmed anyone with the stun gun system as a result of it was damaged that day. McBride sarcastically known as it “probably the most well-known trespass case of all time.”
Prosecutors mentioned Barnett had a historical past of arming himself at political demonstrations. In July 2020, they mentioned, a 911 caller reported that a man matching Barnett’s description had pointed a rifle at her throughout a “Again the Blue” rally.
“Regulation enforcement in the end closed the investigation as unfounded because of unresolved obvious discrepancies within the proof,” prosecutors wrote.
In November 2020, police have been known as to a “Save the Youngsters” rally when a caller mentioned Barnett was carrying a gun on the protest and appearing suspiciously.
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