A man who was pictured with his feet on then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was convicted by a jury on Monday.
Richard Barnett, 62, was charged with eight federal crimes relating to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot including entering and remaining in a restricted area with a deadly or dangerous weapon and obstructing an official proceeding.
He was found guilty of all eight charges by a jury in Washington DC. He faces up to 20 years in prison for the charge of obstructing an official proceeding alone.
Barnett has been released to home confinement with an ankle monitor until he is sentenced on May 3.
“This is not a jury of my peers,” Barnett told reporters after the verdict, according to CNN. “I don’t agree with the decision, but I do appreciate the process and we are surely going to appeal.”
Barnett’s lawyer Joseph McBride also told reporters that his client did not get a fair trial in Washington, DC, because the jury was made up primarily of “Biden voters.”
“We’re not saying there is something inherently wrong with DC or with the jurors.” McBride said. “We’re saying that we believe politics is the big elephant in the room that nobody wants to speak about here and political considerations about this trial have damaged the jury pool to the extent that we can’t get a fair trial.”
[Image: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images]
