A federal grand jury convicted a Texas man on all five charges Tuesday for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Guy Wesley Reffitt, 49, was found guilty on two counts of civil disorder and one count each of obstruction of an official proceeding, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a firearm, and obstruction of justice. He is the first Jan. 6 defendant to stand trial.
Reffitt, a member of the Three Percenters militia group, was at the front of the pack to breach the west side of the Capitol building wearing body armor and carrying a handgun, the Justice Department said.
In a video that prosecutors obtained from Reffitt, he was heard saying during the events, “We’re taking the Capitol before the day is over.”
PROSECUTORS SAY THREE PERCENTER’S CHILDREN WILL TESTIFY AGAINST HIM IN CAPITOL RIOT TRIAL
Prosecutors said Reffitt did not enter the Capitol building, but he was recorded saying, “I said I wasn’t leaving till I got in there. I didn’t make it in there. But I started the fire.”
Reffitt later “boasted” about these actions on Jan. 6 and threatened his children not to report him to law enforcement, the Justice Department added. Reffitt’s Jan. 6 case was the first to go to trial and could have implications on later cases.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to convictions for others who decide to bring their case to trial. They’re taking a huge gamble with bringing such a politically charged case before a jury, and others facing charges will take this conviction into account before following through with a trial,” Christa Ramey, a trial attorney and the co-founder of Ramey Law, said in a statement obtained by the Washington Examiner.
More than 775 people have been in connection to the attack on Jan. 6, and 245 have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, according to the Justice Department.
Sentencing for Reffitt is set for June 8. He faces up to 20 years in prison for each obstruction charge. For the charge of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a firearm, Reffitt faces up to 10 years.
The two civil disorder charges also carry maximums of five years in prison.
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The charges could also carry financial penalties at sentencing.
An attorney for Reffitt and the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
