A former NYC cop got 10 years in prison— a new record in a January 6 case — for assaulting police during the Capitol attack

• Former NYPD cop Thomas Webster testified at trial that he acted in self-defense on January 6.
• A jury needed just hours to find him guilty on all six charges he faced from the Capitol attack.

A federal judge on Thursday handed down the longest sentence to date in a prosecution stemming from the January 6 attack on the Capitol, ordering former New York City cop Thomas Webster to spend a decade behind bars for assaulting a police officer during the insurrection.

Judge Amit Mehta issued the 10-year sentence four months after a jury in Washington, DC, readily rejected Webster's claims that he acted in self-defense on January 6. During the weeklong trial, prosecutors played bodycam footage and other video that captured Webster confronting a police officer along bike racks outside the Capitol and then repeatedly slamming a metal flag pole — bearing the Marine Corps flag — into the metal barrier between them.

The video showed Webster later breaching the bike racks and tackling the officer, Noah Rathbun, to the ground, where he pressed against his face mask.

A retired Marine, Webster served on the protective detail of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg during his tenure as a police officer. At his trial, Webster took the stand to testify in his own defense and said the officer hit him in the face like a "freight train." Webster argued he was merely trying to protect himself from a "rogue cop" and said he pressed into the gas mask so the office could "see my hands."

Rathbun testified that he only made contact with Webster's face incidentally while gesturing for him to back up.

Mehta on Thursday said that, even after numerous viewings of the footage of Webster's assault, "I still remain shocked every time I see it."

"You were the aggressor, no doubt about it," the judge added.

Rathbun observed the more than two-hour proceeding from the back row but did not speak during the hearing. In an emotional address to Mehta, Webster said he regretted coming to Washington, DC, and pleaded for "mercy on my family."

"I was their hero up until January 6," Webster said.

At the conclusion of his remarks, he turned to Rathbun and apologized.

"Most importantly, Officer Rathbun, I'm sorry," he said.

Prosecutors recommended that Webster receive a prison sentence of about 17 years — or 210 months — more than double the longest prison sentence ordered thus far in a case stemming from the Capitol attack. In court Thursday, prosecutor Hava Mirell pointed not only to Webster's "disturbing and gruesome" conduct on January 6 but also his testimony at trial, which she described as untruthful.

Webster, she said, "damaged the credibility of police everywhere with his false testimony."

"Fortunately," she added, "the jury saw right through Mr. Webster's smokescreen."

Mehta echoed that point, telling Webster that he "constructed an alternative truth" that was "utterly fanciful."

"I need to tell you that because it's just the facts," the judge said.

"You weren't punched. You weren't hit with a 'freight train," he added. "The jury saw through it. I saw through it."

Indeed, the jury appeared to quickly dispense with Webster's claim of self-defense. After only a few hours of deliberation, the jury found Webster guilty on all six charges he faced, including disorderly conduct with a dangerous weapon and trespassing on restricted Capitol grounds.

Webster's lawyer argued that the former NYPD officer should not serve additional prison time and instead receive a so-called "time served" sentence crediting him for the 127 days he has already spent behind bars. In court papers advocating for a lower sentence, Webster blamed his conduct in part on "flashbacks" from his experience as a police officer.

The court filings included a "psychiatric report" connecting Webster's actions on January 6 to a violent struggle with an armed robber during his police career. Webster told the psychologist he attacked the police officer with a metal flagpole because "at that moment, I had flashbacks of the struggle we had on the staircase."

In a separate court filing for his sentencing recommendation, Webster struck a markedly different tune from his defiant trial testimony. His lawyer described Webster's crimes as "unmistakably violent and reprehensible."

"Mr. Webster was one of the few people among the thousands of Americans present at the US Capitol on January 6th who should have fully appreciated the enormity of the task assigned to Officer Rathbun and his fellow officers," his lawyer wrote in August.

Mehta on Thursday said Webster's newfound contrition — voiced in court papers and during the sentencing hearing — "could not be more at odds with his testimony."

After handing down the 10-year sentence, Mehta addressed Webster and said, "I don't think you're a bad person.

"I think you were caught up in a moment," he said. But, he added, "that has consequences."