- Opening arguments started in the first trial stemming from the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
- A prosecutor said Guy Reffitt's threats and statements before January 6 made the case "easy."
- The opening argument from Reffitt's defense lawyer lasted only a few minutes.
The first accused Capitol rioter to stand trial on charges related to the January 6 insurrection "made it easy" for the Justice Department to prove its case, a federal prosecutor said Wednesday, telling jurors that the "defendant went to the Capitol and did exactly what he said he was going to do."
In a half-hour opening argument, assistant US attorney Jeffrey Nestler pointed to statements Guy Reffitt made to friends and family ahead of the January 6 attack that foreshadowed the violence of that day.
Nestler said the statements offered convincing evidence that Reffitt, an alleged member of the far-right Three Percenters militia, went to the Capitol with the intent of preventing Congress from certifying now-President Joe Biden's electoral victory.
Nestler said Reffitt told his family and members of the Three Percenters in advance of his plans to drag elected lawmakers out of the Capitol. Reffitt's comments so concerned his son, Jackson Reffitt, that the teenager contacted the FBI on Christmas Eve in 2020 — just weeks before the Capitol breach — to warn that his father was planning to do "something big."
Calling Reffitt the "tip of this mob's spear," Nestler characterized the accused rioter as a leader of a crowd that advanced on police attempting to secure the Capitol as then-Vice President Mike Pence presided over the certification of Biden's victory. Nestler said Reffitt brought a megaphone with him, which he later dropped, "so the mob could better hear his demands."
"In his own words, he lit the fire of the surrounding mob," Nestler said. "He showed the mob the way."
Nestler's opening statement marked the beginning of the first trial stemming from the investigation into the January 6 attack, an inquiry that has given rise to more than 750 prosecutions. The trial is expected to offer a preview into how the Justice Department will approach prosecutions of other January 6 defendants who decline to plead guilty.
Reffitt was charged with obstructing an official proceeding, civil disorder, and unlawfully bringing a gun to the Capitol's outside grounds, but he is not accused of entering the complex. Nestler told jurors on Wednesday that Reffitt was also charged with obstruction of justice after alleged threatening his children to keep them from reporting him to law enforcement authorities.
In his opening statement, Nestler gave a vivid description of Reffitt's approach toward the Capitol and encounter with police.
Reffitt wore a bulletproof vest filled with heavy ceramic plates, Nestler said, and carried "police-style flexicuffs so he could restrain members of Congress when he encountered them."
In a vivid description of Reffitt's advance toward the Capitol, Nestler said the Texas man was undeterred as Capitol police fired pepper balls at him.
"He continued to walk up the banister. He continued to show off for the crowd," Nestler said. "Every time he stepped forward, the crowd stepped forward behind him."
Only after being pepper-sprayed was Reffitt stopped, Nestler said.
"But his work was done," Nestler said. "In his words, he had lit the match."
Nestler said Reffitt bragged about his involvement in the January 6 attack upon returning to Texas. The prosecutor said the Justice Department obtained a recording of a Zoom meeting in which Reffitt discussed his conduct with Three Percenters.
At one point after the January 6 attack, Nestler said, Reffitt recalled that he "laughed and moved forward" after being shot with pepper balls.
But Reffitt's tone changed as the FBI began tracking down and arresting alleged participants in the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol. Nestler described Reffitt as "distressed, agitated, and worried about what his children would do."
"He told his children, 'Don't turn your back on me.' 'Don't betray me.' 'Dont put the family in jeopardy,'" Nestler said.
"You know what happens to traitors," Reffitt told his children. "Traitors get shot."
Following Nestler's opening argument, Reffitt's defense delivered a brief statement lasting only a few minutes.
The defense lawyer, William Welch, said the prosecution of Reffitt stemmed from a "rush to judgment."
"Guy does brag," Welch told jurors. "He exaggerates and he rants. He uses a lot of hyperbole, and that upsets people."
Welch also disputed that Reffitt brought a gun to the Capitol grounds, saying, "He was not armed. He did not threaten harm. He was not aggressive."