Jan. 6 rioter who assaulted cop, threatened Pelosi and Pence convicted of all charges
An Oregon man who was seen picking up a phone inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and shouting threats against then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence has been convicted of almost a dozen charges.
Richard L. Harris, 42, was found guilty Wednesday following a three-day bench trial. According to prosecutors, he was among the first in the crowd of Donald Trump supporters who violently breached the Capitol building as Congress was certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral win, having forced his way to the front of the crowd despite having been hit with chemical spray by police trying to keep the mob at bay.
Once inside, he was seen on video “menacing Capitol Police officers from the front of a large crowd, resulting in the officers moving aside so that Harris and the crowd could continue into the building.”
Video also recorded Harris picking up a landline phone in the Capitol Rotunda and demanding to speak with Pelosi, a Democrat and then-leader of the House of Representatives, and Pence, who was overseeing the certification process — both of whom were repeatedly targeted with vile, violent threats that day.
“Can I speak to Pelosi? We’re coming, b—-,” Harris said. “Oh, Mike Pence? We’re coming for you, too, you f—— traitor.”
Video from inside the Rotunda also showed Harris “physically assaulting a Metropolitan Police Department officer” by grabbing the officer’s baton and pulling it.
Harris was ultimately forced out by police after spending almost 90 minutes inside the building.
Video footage also shows Harris standing on a statue of former President Gerald Ford in the Capitol Rotunda, upon which a Trump flag and red baseball cap had been improperly placed.
Harris was arrested in Florida in March 2021. Prosecutors say that he had fled his home state of Oregon — where he allegedly tried to break into the state capitol building in December 2020, assaulting a journalist in the process — in order to evade post-Jan. 6 arrest by federal authorities.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, convicted Harris of all charges, including obstruction of an official proceeding, civil disorder, assaulting a police officer, and various trespassing and disorderly conduct crimes.
Harris faces a potential 20 years behind bars on the most severe charge of obstruction. Sentencing has been set for Sept. 27.
https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-breach/were-coming-b-jan-6-rioter-who-assaulted-cop-threatened-pelosi-and-pence-convicted-of-all-charges/
