WASHINGTON — A federal judge convicted an Ohio pastor of two felony counts Monday for his role in the Capitol riot, saying prosecutors had more than proven he’d come to D.C. intending to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
William Dunfee, 58, of Frazeysburg, Ohio, was arrested in October 2022 on multiple charges for using a bullhorn to incite the crowd at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, before himself joining in two breaches of police barricades. Dunfee is the pastor of New Beginnings Ministries Warsaw, a church in Warsaw, Ohio. Dunfee is also a partner in a construction company named Cross Builders, also based in Ohio, and was identified in part because he wore a company-branded jacket on Jan. 6.
During a bench trial before U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton on Monday, Dunfee and his attorneys stipulated to facts sufficient to convict him on a felony count of civil disorder and a misdemeanor count of entering and remaining in a restricted area. Walton additionally convicted Dunfee of a second felony count of obstruction of an official proceeding.
Federal prosecutors presented video evidence Monday morning showing Dunfee using a bullhorn to whip the crowd into a “frenzy” on the east side of the Capitol. Dunfee led other protesters in “Fight for Trump” chants and periodically turned his attention to police, who he demanded allow the crowd past barricades and to the steps of the Capitol.
“Give us Trump or give us our house!” Dunfee told police at one point.
Dunfee eventually made it to the doors of the Capitol, where he eventually stopped after being pepper sprayed. But as other rioters came out of the building and informed him the certification had been stopped, Dunfee responded, “Hallelujah! Mission accomplished!”
“The defendant thought that democratic means had failed and he needed to take matters into his own hands,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Will Widman told Walton during his closing arguments.
Dunfee declined to take the stand himself and called no witnesses in his defense Monday. Instead, during closing arguments his attorneys argued he came to D.C. to demand an investigation into “irregularities” in the 2020 election. Attorneys Thomas Kidd and Curt Hartman said the Justice Department’s case against Dunfee on the most serious count against him – obstruction of an official proceeding – was built on “speculation and conjecture.”
But Walton, who has served on the federal bench for more than 20 years since first being nominated by former President George W. Bush in 2001, disagreed. He said the DOJ’s case all but demanded a guilty verdict.
“I just don’t see how I can reach any other conclusion unless I just wholly disregard the evidence presented,” Walton said.
Walton scheduled a sentencing hearing for May 24 and agreed to allow Dunfee to remain free on supervision, despite concerns that Dunfee might use his position as a religious leader to encourage political violence during the ongoing presidential election season.
“Sir, let me say I’m not telling you what to preach. That’s outside of my realm,” Walton said. “But if I get any word that you’re using your pulpit to encourage people to commit political violence, I won’t hesitate to lock you up.”
Dunfee’s sentencing day will remain tentative while the U.S. Supreme Court hears an appeal on the obstruction of an official proceeding charge used in hundreds of Jan. 6 cases.