WASHINGTON — A jury convicted a Missouri man and former member of the Marine Corps Wednesday on six counts for assaulting police and obstructing the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
John George Todd III, 34, of Blue Springs, was found guilty of two felony and four misdemeanor counts. He was ordered into custody Wednesday to be held without bond while he awaits sentencing on May 10.
Todd was arrested in May 2022 after the FBI received a tip that he’d told someone he was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and had gone there to “wreak havoc.” He initially faced four misdemeanor counts, but was later indicted on felony counts of obstruction of an official proceeding and assaulting police inflicting bodily harm.
According to prosecutors, Todd climbed bleachers erected in advance of the presidential inauguration and entered the Capitol. Once inside, he shouted out and threatened officers – at one point yelling, “I will hip toss you into the f***ing crowd!”
When police attempted to remove Todd and other rioters from the building, he engaged in a scuffle with DC Police Officer Noah Rathbun that resulted in Todd’s flagpole snapping. Splintered fragments of the pole sliced open Rathbun’s finger, requiring stitches. Todd then yelled at Rathbun, “Throw down your badge and gun, let’s go one-on-one!”
After being removed from the building, Todd remained on Capitol grounds and continued to yell at police. He approached a line of officers on the Upper West Terrace and shouted, “Put your shields down and fight!”
Todd’s attorneys, John Pierce and Roger Roots, argued that it was police who instigated violence on Jan. 6 – a defense that has been attempted unsuccessfully numerous times at trials, including by Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola, who was also represented by Roots, and former NYPD Officer Thomas Webster, who was also convicted of assaulting Rathbun.
Prosecutors will likely seek a lengthy prison term for Todd at sentencing. Other Jan. 6 defendants convicted on similar charges have received sentences ranging from three years to more than a decade in prison. Pezzola and Webster were both sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Tuesday marked 37 months since the riot at the Capitol. In the three years since that day, more than 1,300 defendants have been charged with crimes ranging from entering a restricted area to seditious conspiracy. Approximately 900 defendants have now pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial.