A man from North Texas was convicted on Tuesday for assault and obstruction at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
David Lee Judd, 36, of Carrollton, was one of three men convicted Tuesday for their involvement in the events at the Capitol. Judd was arrested in March 2021, while the other two were arrested in June, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
All three men were found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding, while Judd was also found guilty of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers. All of the charges are felonies.
The obstruction charge carries a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison. The charge involving officers carries a maximum sentence of eight years in prison.
Judd is still awaiting a verdict on other charges he faces for actions against police officers and aiding and abetting, including “disorderly conduct in a Capitol building,” and “acts of physical violence in a Capitol grounds or buildings.”
Judd was allegedly among a group of protesters who fought with officers in a tunnel on the west front side of the Capitol that leads to the building’s entrance, according to court documents.
“He, too, participated in the heave-ho against the police line. Judd then stood directly outside the tunnel, receiving police riot shields from rioters inside the tunnel and passing them back to other rioters,” the DOJ said in a press release.
“Judd entered the tunnel at 3:07 p.m. and lit an object that appeared to be a firecracker. He threw it at the police line, where officers were fighting with other rioters to keep them out of the building,” the release continued.
“Later, after law enforcement officers cleared the tunnel, Judd joined in an attempt to push against a newly established police line,” the release read.
Judd waived his right to a trial by jury, according to court documents obtained by WFAA, and he is scheduled to be sentenced on February 27, 2023.
So far, approximately 80 people have been arrested in Texas on charges related to the Capitol protests, according to the Justice Department’s database. Out of these, several North Texans have pleaded guilty on counts of “illegal parading,” as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Persisting concerns about the government’s handling of the January 6 trials have caused some federal legislators, such as U.S. Reps. Troy Nehls (R-TX) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) suggest that the trials are politically motivated or that law enforcement officials played a more active role in escalating the situation.