Ex-cop faces trial over involvement in Capitol attack
The trial of former officer Thomas Robertson will be the third of hundreds of people charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
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The Capitol attack resulted in the death of 7 people and the injuries of 100 officers (Getty)
After two off-duty police officers from Virginia were charged with conspiring to storm the US Capitol, one of them begins a trial this week.
Ex-officer from Rocky Mount, Thomas Robertson will be the third of hundreds of persons charged in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The insurrection left 7 people dead and more than 100 officers injured, including four officers who later committed suicide. More than 700 persons have been charged as a result of the investigation.
Thus far, 725 individuals from nearly all 50 US states were charged with criminal activity, along with top Trump aides who were implicated.
While his former colleague Jacob Fracker was planning to join him on trial, he secured a plea deal to cooperate with authorities.
Fracker pled guilty last month to conspiracy to hinder an official proceeding, the confirmation of President Joe Biden's election.
Robertson faces six charges of obstructing an official procedure, civil disorder, entering and remaining in a restricted building, and disorderly behavior in the Capitol.
Both Robertson and Fracker worked as police officers at Rocky Mount, and both were dismissed after their arrests.
Among the hundreds were some police officers also charged.
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Jan.6: Who do Americans hold responsible?
All that's left is violence
According to prosecutors, Robertson carried a wooden stick and used it to prevent Metropolitan Police from holding off the mob and was photographed making inappropriate gestures in front of the statue of John Stark, an American general in the Revolutionary War.
In a January 8 Facebook post, Robertson wrote, “Being nice, polite, writing letters and sending emails hasn’t worked.”
Read more: The Guardian: Next US civil war is already here
“All that's left is violence and YOU and your ‘Friends on the other side of the isle’ have pushed Americans into that corner. The picture of Senators cowering on the floor with genuine fear on their faces is the most American thing I have seen in my life,” he wrote.
According to defense attorney Mark Rollins in a court statement last year, a Capitol police officer informed Robertson he could enter the building but shouldn't go into any "restrictive areas". Rollins stated that Robertson was just inside the Capitol for 10 minutes and did not attack or destroy anything.
Robertson was detained a week after the riot and was initially freed. However, he has been imprisoned since July, when US District Judge Christopher Cooper found that he violated the terms of his pretrial release by having guns.
Robertson was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and wounded by a gunshot in 2011. He underwent multiple surgeries before becoming a sergeant. His trial could be the first for someone accused of entering the building during the attack.
