Three January 6, 2021, rioters who took part in one of the deadliest attacks on police during the attack on the US Capitol were found guilty on Tuesday of various felonies after a trial before a federal judge.
Patrick McCaughey was found guilty of nine charges, including assault with a deadly weapon, for assaulting Washington, DC police officer Daniel Hodges. A video of the attack, in which Hodges screamed in pain as he was crushed against a door and his mask was ripped from his face, went viral shortly after the attack.
“Lower West Terrace and Lower West Tunnel were the scenes of shocking violence and hostility towards the police on January 6, 2021,” District Judge Trevor McFadden said before handing down the verdict. “No police officer should have to endure these attacks.”
“Mr. McCaughey used the strength of his body, and the strength of other rioters behind him, to pin Officer Hodges against the wall and ‘left him defenseless to other rioters,'” McFadden said, adding that Hodges was “crushed” and left out “gut screams of pain”.
One of McCaughey’s relatives, Tristan Stevens, was also found guilty of nine charges. The other, David Mehaffie, was found guilty of four charges.
Both Stevens and Mehaffey were acquitted of a single count of obstructing official proceedings, as McFadden said government prosecutors did not prove the two knew the Electoral College vote certification was underway inside the Capitol when they arrived.
Dozens of people sat quietly in the courtroom as McFadden delivered the verdict.
Once the nearly two-hour hearing was over, McCaughey was taken into custody and not allowed to say goodbye to his mother, who was in the courtroom. Another McCaughey supporter yelled at U.S. Marshals as they took McCaughey away in handcuffs and later cried in the hallway of the D.C. courthouse.
According to prosecutors, the three men were involved in the attack on police officers guarding a Capitol tunnel entrance on Lower West Terrace – a brutal scene where officers were beaten, crushed and even dragged into the crowd in an hours-long attack.
McCaughey and Stevens fought police, prosecutors said, while Mehaffie directed mob members in and out of the Lower West Terrace tunnel.
The three men claimed at various times during the trial that they were caught up in the mob, were trying to help police or were unaware of the violence. But McFadden said the testimony of several police officers during the trial, including Hodges and former Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell — both of whom have spoken candidly about the events of Jan. 6 — as well as video of the incident undermine these claims.
According to Gonell, Stevens struck him multiple times with a stolen riot shield and attempted to steal another officer’s baton.
“To this day, even after healing for the trauma, I still struggle with timing. But I remember your defendant and what he did,” Gonell told Stevens’ attorney.
Hodges testified that he was pinned against a door in the tunnel by McCaughey, who was pressing him with a riot shield. Prosecutors showed images of Hodges taken after the attack, with half of Hodge’s face covered in blood and bruises and swelling all over his body.
McCaughey, Stevens and Mehaffie will be sentenced in November.
Three other men accused of the attack, Robert Morse, Jeffrey Sills and David Lee Judd, were found guilty of obstructing an official proceeding during a trial in late August. Morse and Sills were also found guilty of assault.
