A jury found Capitol rioter Dustin Thompson guilty Thursday on charges he obstructed a congressional proceeding and stole a coat tree from a Senate office on January 6, 2021, rejecting a defense argument that attempted to shift blame for the day's violence onto former President Donald Trump.
After just a few hours of deliberations, the jury convicted Thompson, 38, on all six charges he faced in connection with January 6, including obstruction of an official proceeding, trespassing on restricted Capitol grounds, and theft of government property. On the obstruction charge alone, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, but he's likely to receive a lighter punishment.
Judge Reggie Walton ordered Thompson detained ahead of his July 20 sentencing, in a decision that appeared to surprise the now-convicted Capitol rioter and his defense lawyer. Walton raised concerns that Thompson posed a flight risk and said that, if released before his sentencing, Americans would wonder, "Why is he still walking free?"
"The inevitable reality is that whether he does time now or does time later, he's got to do time," the judge said.
Walton, a George W. Bush appointee to the federal trial court in Washington, DC, said Thompson "gleefully" took part in the Capitol attack and questioned his candor on the witness stand days earlier, calling his testimony "wholly disingenuous."
"His conduct, in my view, was reprehensible," Walton said.
As Walton spoke, Thompson put his head in his hands. Once Walton stepped down from the bench, Thompson turned over his belt and tie and was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs by a deputy US marshal.
The judge also had harsh words for Trump, delivering a scathing condemnation in which he called the former president a "charlatan."