A judge has issued the first acquittal of a defendant in the January 6 riot after a federal defence contractor claimed that police had waved him into the US Capitol.
New Mexico engineer Matthew Martin was found not guilty of four misdemeanor charges following a two-day bench trial before US District Court Judge Trevor McFadden, having rejected a jury trial.
The acquittal could now change the way hundreds more defendants choose to defend the charges brought against them by the Department of Justice following the pro-Trump riot.
The judge, who was appointed by Donald Trump, told the court that based on video the defendant’s claim was “plausible” and prosecutors had failed to prove their case.
“People were streaming by and the officers made no attempt to stop the people,” said the judge.
Prosecutors argued that loud alarms and broken windows should have warned Mr Martin that he did not have permission to enter the building, where lawmakers were certifying Joe Biden’s election win over Mr Trump.
But the judge rejected that and said that the size of the crowds and actions of the police undermined that argument.
Mr Martin, who is from Santa Fe, New Mexico, and has a top-secret security clearance, was arrested in April 2021 and and faced charges of entering and remaining in a restricted building; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building; violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
The judge said that Mr Martin’s behaviour was “as minimal and not serious” as he has seen in any January 6 cases and that he found the defendant “largely credible.”
But he did add that Mr Martin had “shaded his testimony on some points, minimising his actions.”
Mr Martin told the court that he has seen “no violence” despite filming a rioter fighting with police inside the rotunda, and said that he would stay away from the Capitol if he had the chance to repeat January 6.
“I enjoyed everything else. I enjoyed the rally,” Mr Martin said.
And he added: “It’s hard for me to say I regret coming to Washington, DC.”
More than 775 people have been arrested by the FBI in connection with the attack, with more than 2,500 people thought to have entered the Capitol.
