A Capitol rioter who allegedly warned his kids he’d shoot them if they turned him in — only to have his son drop the dime on him — became the first protester convicted at trial Tuesday.
Guy Reffitt, a 49-year-old member of the far-right “Texas Three Percenters” militia group, was found guilty on all five of the felony charges he faced, including bringing a gun onto the Capitol grounds and obstructing an official proceeding.
A federal jury in Washington, DC, handed down the unanimous verdict against Reffitt after just two hours of deliberation.
Guy Reffitt seen during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Courtesy of Department of JusticeThe disgraced dad now faces up to two decades in prison when he is sentenced June 8, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said.
Prosecutors said Reffitt recruited others to join him and the white supremacist crew to travel to the nation’s capital Jan. 6, telling the group that “the fuel is set” and “we will strike the match in DC.”
Reffitt arrived at the Capitol with his cronies “wearing body armor and carrying handguns, flexi-cuffs, and radios for communication,” the feds said in a press release.
“Reffitt also had a megaphone as well as a helmet with a camera mounted on the top for recording purposes,” prosecutors said. “His mission, according to evidence, was to stop Congress from acting.
“He was specifically targeting Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,” the feds said. “At one point, Reffitt’s camera recorded him saying, ‘We’re taking the Capitol before the day is over.’ ”
Reffitt led other rioters to the Capitol doors but did not make it inside himself, according to prosecutors.
The 49-year-old member of the far-right “Texas Three Percenters” militia group was convicted on all five of the felony charges. Dana Verkourteren“I said I wasn’t leaving until I got in there,” he is heard saying on one recording. “I didn’t make it in there. But I started the fire.”
After returning home to Texas after the riots, Reffitt allegedly threatened his children not to tell anyone about his role in the assault on the Capitol.
“If you turn me in, you’re a traitor and you know what happens to traitors,” he reportedly told his kids. “They get shot.”
His son didn’t listen.
Supporters of then-President Donald Trump storm the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. AP Photo/John Minchillo“It was my moral compass, kind of, to do what I thought would protect not only my family, but my dad himself,” Jackson Reffitt, then 18, told Fox’s Dallas-Fort Worth station in 2021.
“And it wasn’t just because I think my dad is aggressive, I think what he’s been manipulated into thinking is aggressive.’’
Jackson said his father’s threat against him “would never be OK.”
“He said, ‘Choose a side. … ‘Choose a side or die,’ ” the son said.
“I took that as a threat, but I never thought he would act upon it.”
Reffitt’s daughter Sara, wife Nicole and daughter Peyton leave the federal courthouse on March 8, 2022. EPAReffitt was convicted on two counts of obstruction and entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a firearm and two charges of civil disorder.
So far, more than 775 people have been arrested nationwide for their alleged roles in the Jan. 6 attack, including 245 charged with assault or impeding law enforcement, prosecutors said.
More than 220 rioters have pleaded guilty, with 100 sentenced so far and at least 90 awaiting trial.
Reffitt was the first to stand trial.
His son said last year that he hasn’t spoken to his father since his arrest and while he would turn him in again, he feels bad for his dad.
“I would say I’m sorry, because I don’t feel like I put him in this situation, but I still feel guilty,” Jackson said.
With Post Wires



