Jury convicts Guy Reffitt, first Jan. 6 Capitol riot defendant to stand trial

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Guy Reffitt, a Texas man who attempted to storm the U.S. Capitol while armed with a gun and zip ties, was convicted of all five counts against him, including transport of a firearm in support of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding. Jurors began deliberating Tuesday morning after a weeklong trial in which they heard testimony from Reffitt's teenage son, Jackson Reffitt, who tipped off the FBI about his father before the Jan. 6 attack.

Prosecutors, quoting the elder Reffitt's own words, argued that the defendant had "lit the match" on the west side of the Capitol, where some of the most brutal attacks on law enforcement took place. Video shows Reffitt, with a blue jacket covering his waistband, leading the mob up the steps of the Capitol, besides the platform where Joe Biden was inaugurated.

After the jury's unanimous verdict, Reffitt sat at the defense table and fiddled with his mask while talking to his lawyer. Judge Dabney Friedrich set Reffitt's sentencing for June 8 at 10 a.m.

The most damning evidence against the Donald Trump supporter was produced by the defendant himself. Over and over again — both before and after Jan. 6 — Reffitt recorded himself in various forums talking about what he planned to do and what he did. He even bragged about his conduct on a Zoom call that he recorded himself, which the government found on an external hard drive.

More than 750 people have been arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, and hundreds more cases are in the works. Over 200 defendants have already been sentenced


https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/guy-reffitt-first-jan-6-rioter-go-trial-found-guilty-counts-rcna19041

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In December 2020, Jackson Reffitt was growing alarmed about what he was hearing from his father.

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That day, in his bedroom in Wylie, Texas, Jackson Reffitt contacted the FBI, he said. "I decided to alleviate some anxieties off my shoulder," Jackson Reffitt said Thursday, recalling that he felt "paranoid" about what his father might do. Two weeks later, on January 6, 2021, Jackson Reffitt would learn that his father had traveled to Washington, DC, and joined in the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol. On Thursday, Guy Reffitt cried as his son appeared across a courtroom to testify against him in Washington, DC, where the elder Reffitt is the first accused Capitol rioter to stand trial on charges connected to the January 6 attack.

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Wearing a dark suit, with long hair extending past his shoulders, Jackson Reffitt, 19, was soft-spoken but poised as he recalled his report to the FBI in late 2020. He described how he later recorded his father's exuberant retelling of his involvement in the January 6 attack.

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In the most dramatic testimony of the trial to date, Jackson Reffitt recounted a conversation after January 6 in which his father told him that he and his sister would be traitors if they turned him into law enforcement — and that "traitors get shot." "I was pretty grossed out hearing my father say that," Jackson Reffitt testified Thursday. Later, as his sister looked at his phone, Guy Reffitt threatened to shoot a hole in the phone if she was recording him. Recalling the episode, Jackson Reffitt said his sister "gasped" and "denied she would do that." Jackson Reffitt said he then met with the FBI, and felt "guilty," "terrified," and "gross." After his family learned of his cooperation with the FBI through a CNN interview, he moved out of the house, Jackson Reffitt said. His contact with his family has been limited since, he said.

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Through a GoFundMe fundraising effort, Jackson Reffitt said he received $150,000 to support him. On Thursday, assistant US attorney Risa Berkower asked whether he reported his father to the FBI to become famous. "No," he said. Was it to get money through GoFundMe? "No," he said.

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Following the January 6 attack, Guy Reffitt boasted about his involvement, prosecutors said. Jackson Reffitt testified that his father texted a link to a Fox News segment showing him outside the Capitol in a blue coat. When Guy Reffitt returned to Texas, his son secretly recorded him as he recounted his involvement in the Capitol siege. Echoing what he'd said about reporting his father to the FBI, Jackson Reffitt said Thursday he felt "pretty gross" recording his father surreptitiously.

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Jackson Reffitt said Thursday that he had a "pretty great" relationship with his father before 2016, around the time he was entering high school. The pair disagreed about politics, Jackson said, adding that he moved further to the left while his father moved further to the right during the Trump era.

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