January 6 defendant who barged into Pelosi offices during attack found guilty of multiple counts
By Holmes LybrandUpdated: Mon, 21 Nov 2022 21:14:29 GMTSource: CNNRiley Williams, a Pennsylvania woman who barged into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's offices on January 6, 2021, was found guilty on
By Holmes LybrandUpdated: Mon, 21 Nov 2022 21:14:29 GMT
Source: CNN
Riley Williams, a Pennsylvania woman who barged into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's offices on January 6, 2021, was found guilty on Monday of multiple counts she faced over the Capitol attack.
Williams was found guilty of six of the eight counts she was charged with, including assaulting or resisting an officer and disorderly conduct in the Capitol.
A mistrial was declared on two of the remaining counts, including the government's charge that Riley had aided and abetted in the left of a laptop from Pelosi's office. The jury also could not come to a unanimous decision on the charge of obstructing the certification of the electoral college, which carried a maximum sentence of 20 years.
This is the first time a jury has not convicted a January 6 Capitol defendant of each count charged.
During the trial prosecutors argued that while Williams, a 23-year-old with long amber hair, didn't appear dangerous she in fact stirred up the mob, recruited and coordinated rioters to attack police and directed others to steal the laptop from Pelosi's office.
"Looks can be deceiving but evidence is not," prosecutor Michael Gordon told the jury.
During the trial, multiple videos were played of Riley -- some of which she shared with people she knew online who gave them to law enforcement agents -- inside of Pelosi's offices allegedly yelling "take the f**king laptop" as well as pushing against officers in the Capitol with her back.
The laptop was primarily used for conference videos and did not contain sensitive information, prosecutors said.
Videos of Pelosi's office during the Capitol attack showed an overturned table and broken window, rioters rummaging around, taking selfies and videos -- bragging that they had reached the speaker's office. "Where's Nancy?" members of the mob could be heard asking, over and over again.
Williams' attorney, Lori Ulrich, told the jury that what her client did on January 6 "was wrong," but said she was young and simply "a girl wanting to be a somebody."
According to prosecutors, Williams was "consumed" by far-right white nationalist Nick Fuentes -- whose internet show "she watched obsessively" -- and the Stop the Steal movement, attending rallies in the lead up to January 6.
After the riot, Williams bragged to people on the social media platform Discord that she had stolen the laptop and a gavel from the speaker's office, none of which was true, her attorneys said.
"Riley Williams lived in a fantasy world of sorts," Ulrich said of her client's online presence, where she messaged people she had never met about her alleged exploits that day, much of which was made up, according to her attorney.
Williams will be sentenced on February 22 and, according to prosecutors, could face two to three years in prison, according to sentencing guidelines.
