US man found guilty of 5 felony charges in 1st Jan. 6 riot trial

By Darren Lyn

HOUSTON, Texas (AA) - The first person to stand trial in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots was found guilty Tuesday on all federal charges filed against him.

The jury in Washington, DC took less than four hours to find 49-year-old Guy Reffitt of Wylie, Texas – a suburb 30 miles northeast of Dallas – guilty on all five felony counts.

The charges against Reffitt included taking a gun with him to the Capitol on January 6, obstructing an official proceeding, and obstruction of justice by threatening his own children, saying “if you turn me in, you’re a traitor and traitors get shot.”

Reffitt was accused of bringing a semiautomatic pistol to the US Capitol last year and storming the building alongside hundreds of other rioters to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

The riots left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer. 140 officers were injured.

The Department of Justice has filed charges against more than 750 defendants, including 66 from Texas.

“Today a jury in the District of Columbia held Guy Reffitt accountable for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, finding him guilty of five felony charges,” said US attorney for DC, Matthew Graves after the verdict was handed down.

“I would like to thank the jury for upholding the rule of law and for its diligent service in this case,” continued Graves, who leads the office prosecuting all Jan. 6 cases.

More than 200 people have already pleaded guilty to an array of felony charges and misdemeanors stemming from the Capitol riots, with several being sentenced to years in federal prison.

Reffitt’s sentencing is scheduled for June. He faces up to 60 years in prison.