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Emily Berret, who was an aide to Pelosi on Jan. 6, testified that the desk in the famous picture was hers, and she described the horror she experienced when she saw the image on the news while on lockdown with the speaker.
Barnett remained stoic as the verdict was read shortly before noon Monday. His partner, Tammy Newburn, was flanked in the public gallery by the mother of Ashli Babbitt β who was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer as she sought to breach the House chamber on Jan. 6 β and the mother of Enrique Tarrio, who was at the same moment in a courtroom two floors below facing charges of seditious conspiracy. Also seated alongside Newburn was Nicole Reffitt, the wife of Jan. 6 defendant Guy Reffitt, who is serving a seven-and-a-half-year sentence.
Barnett took the stand in his own defense, contending that he was βpushedβ into the Capitol by the Jan. 6 mob and then roamed around looking for a bathroom until he stumbled into Pelosiβs suite. He said he took the envelope because he had bled on it and viewed it as a βbiohazard.β He left an American flag on a side table inside the office as well. He said that he was angered by police actions outside the Capitol, disoriented after being maced in the rotunda and made overheated statements in the moment.
After he got home to Arkansas, Barnett quickly turned himself in, but claimed he lost his phone shortly after he arrived, and the Hike N Strike weapon was similarly missing.
Prosecutors forcefully rebutted Barnettβs contentions in tense cross-examination that caused Barnett to grow frustrated in front of the jury. Barnett described himself as a βfucking idiotβ who made intemperate comments but said he shouldnβt be held criminally responsible for his actions.
They noted that he angrily berated Capitol Police officers inside the rotunda after leaving Pelosiβs suite, appearing to beckon the mob forward as he demanded the officers retrieve his misplaced flag. Though he didnβt deploy his stun weapon, prosecutors say its presence at his side presented a threat, and the jury agreed.
Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, Barnett vowed to appeal the verdict and said he had βabsolutely notβ received a fair trial, chiefly because he faced a jury in liberal-leaning Washington, D.C.
βI think the venue should have been changed. This is not a jury of my peers. I donβt agree with that decision. But I do appreciate the process. And we are surely going to appeal,β Barnett said.
The prosecution asked U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper to jail Barnett pending sentencing, but Cooper declined, allowing Barnett to remain under home detention until his sentencing, set for May 3.
While Barnett wasnβt accused of any violence on Jan. 6, prosecutors asking for Barnett to be put behind bars on Monday said the situation in Pelosiβs office couldβve been much worse if sheβd been in her office when rioters like Barnett reached it.
βWe can only imagine what would have happened if she had been there at that time,β Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Prout said.
Prout said Barnett lied when he took the stand last week and hasnβt taken responsibility for his actions. βSince the trial testimony last week, the defendant has been tweeting and has expressed no remorse for his conduct,β she said.
A defense attorney for Barnett, Joseph McBride, noted that Barnett has been on pretrial release since April 2021 without notable incident. βIt doesnβt make sense to throw him in jail at this moment,β McBride said.
Barnett insisted to reporters that he had expressed remorse, but he declined to say exactly what he regretted.
McBride and his co-counsel, Brad Geyer, also defended the defenseβs unusual tactic of laughing during portions of the governmentβs case. McBride said it was an appropriate reaction to prosecutors seeking to leverage some of McBrideβs more outlandish political statements.
βWe think that itβs absolutely objectionable, and ridiculous that a man could be on trial, and possibly be sentenced to the rest of his life in prison, and have tweets used against him β some political tweets,β McBride said. βSo, we made a conscious decision to laugh at that because, at the end of the day, we donβt believe that that stuff had any place in this trial.β
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )