Dana Verkouteren by way of AP
Prosecutors known as their remaining witnesses Monday within the trial of Guy Reffitt, an alleged participant in final 12 months’s Capitol riot who authorities say threatened to shoot his personal youngsters in the event that they turned him in.
Reffitt, a 49-year-old member of the far-right “Texas Three Percenters” militia group, is the primary individual to face trial in reference to the occasions of Jan. 6, 2021. He is charged with bringing a gun onto the Capitol grounds and interfering with cops guarding the constructing.
Jurors heard Monday from two officers who stated they tried to maintain Reffitt from accessing the constructing, in addition to an FBI agent concerned within the investigation.
Reffitt declined to testify in his personal protection, and his lawyer, William Welch, instructed the court docket Monday that he deliberate to name zero witnesses.
Fellow Three Percenter Rocky Hardie testified final week that Reffitt stated he needed to bodily take away members of Congress from the Capitol and exchange them with individuals who would “follow the Constitution.”
Hardie instructed the court docket that he thought of Reffitt’s phrases to be “hyperbole” and didn’t assume he would act on them.
Following the riot, authorities say, Reffitt warned his youngsters to not communicate to regulation enforcement about him.
“If you turn me in, you’re a traitor and you know what happens to traitors,” Reffitt stated to his son and daughter, based on court docket papers. “Traitors get shot.”
Reffitt’s 18-year-old son finally tipped the FBI off to his father’s function within the assault.
Reffitt additionally faces costs of obstruction of an official continuing, transporting firearms throughout a civil dysfunction, and obstructing justice.
More than 750 individuals have been charged with federal crimes associated to the riot. Over 220 riot defendants have pleaded responsible, greater than 100 have been sentenced and a minimum of 90 others have trial dates.
With Post wires
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