At a bench trial in Washington, D.C., meaning trial proceedings where the outcome was decided by a judge rather than a jury, five additional participants in the Capitol riot of early 2021 spurred by pro-Trump election lies were found guilty this week. Defendants included Ryan Samsel, James Tate Grant, Paul Russell Johnson, Stephen Chase Randolph, and Jason Benjamin Blythe.
The five, all convicted of civil disorder in addition to various other charges, were accused of helping kickstart the entire Capitol breach. “Blythe moved forward and grabbed the barricade with the other four defendants, and the five drove the metal bike rack barricade into a line of USCP officers,” a federal press release explains of an inciting moment from January 6, 2021, adding: “The defendants and the rest of the rioters quickly overwhelmed the police line, and the USCP officers retreated backward toward the Capitol building.”
Samsel and Randolph were also found guilty of assaulting police with a deadly or dangerous weapon or while inflicting bodily injury for impacts on U.S. Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, who fell backwards from the force of defendants pushing back those barriers, hitting her head. “The force of the strike threw the officer backward and caused the officer to slam their head twice: first against a metal handrail, then against the stairs,” that release says, referring to Edwards. Edwards has also spoken about serving that day alongside Brian Sicknick, who as an officer with her same police agency died very soon after participating in that day’s Capitol defense.
Samsel’s conduct was particularly aggressive. At one juncture, he hurled a piece of wood taken from presidential inauguration-related scaffolding at police officers attempting to maintain a police line. Earlier in the afternoon, he was the first to actually breach the restricted perimeter that was established around the Capitol, authorities said. Another of these defendants, James Grant, was among those to actually enter the Capitol building, where he entered an office for Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). Sentencing is scheduled for June.
