WASHINGTON — A federal judge convicted a Kentucky man on nine counts Wednesday for smashing a window in a door inside the U.S. Capitol just feet away from where Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed.
Chad Barrett Jones, of Mount Washington, Kentucky, was convicted by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon of two felony counts of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding and seven other misdemeanor counts. Leon, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President George W. Bush in 2002, denied the government’s request to treat a flagpole carried by Jones as a dangerous weapon.
Jones can be seen on footage from the Jan. 6 riot using a flag pole with a rolled-up “Trump” flag attached to smash a window in a door leading to the Speaker’s Lobby in the House Wing of the Capitol. Behind the door, officers can be seen barricading with guns drawn. Seconds after Jones struck the window at least nine times with the flagpole, Babbitt, a U.S. Air Force veteran, was fatally shot while attempting to climb through the window of a separate door.
Jones was identified through a tip to the FBI by someone claiming to be a family member who had spoken with him on the day of the riot. According to charging documents, the tipster told Jones he needed to contact the FBI or an attorney. Jones reportedly responded he wanted to explain “why it all was happening and why it was a hoax.”
Barrett was represented by attorneys William Brennan Jr. and Michael Lawlor. Leon scheduled a sentencing hearing in D.C. District Court on Nov. 8 at 3 p.m.