Guy Reffitt, first Jan. 6 defendant to stand trial, found guilty on all charges

Washington – A Texas man accused of allegedly bringing a semiautomatic pistol to the January 6 attack on the Capitol, interfering with police, and then telling his children that “traitors get shot” when they wanted to turn him into authorities, was found guilty Tuesday on all charges. The jury took less than four hours to deliberate.

Guy Wesley Reffitt faces a maximum of 60 years in prison. His sentencing is set for June 8. 

His son, Jackson Reffitt, testified against him and offered some of the strongest evidence in the trial.

In the first January 6 case to go to trial, Reffitt, a 49-year-old father of three from Wylie, Texas, was indicted by a grand jury on five counts last year for transporting a rifle and a semi-automatic handgun to Washington, D.C., and then carrying the handgun onto U.S. Capitol grounds, where he allegedly participated in the January 6, 2021 riot and impeded law enforcement officers. 

He was also charged with obstruction of justice, illegally entering the Capitol complex, and obstructing Congress’ counting of the 2020 Electoral College votes — a process that ultimately affirmed Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the presidential election.

Reffitt, a member of the far-right militia group the Texas Three Percenters, pleaded not guilty to all five charges and tried unsuccessfully to have some of the counts thrown out. 

Reffitt’s 19-year-old son, Jackson, who turned his father into law enforcement following the January 6 attack, told the jury that he had learned of his father’s membership in the mob when he returned to the family’s home on January 6 to see his mother and sister watching news coverage of the events, and his mother told him that his father was there.

According to the recordings played for the jury, Jackson captured his father admitting he had carried a gun outside the Capitol, an offense that is punishable by years in prison. “You carried a weapon onto Capitol grounds,” Jackson is heard saying. “Okay,” Guy responded, adding later, “I did it. I did bring a weapon on property that we own.”

A former Capitol Police officer and a former Texas Three Percenter also testified for the prosecution in the case. 

More than 750 people have been charged in the investigation, and over 200 have entered guilty pleas.