An Arkansas man, who famously propped his feet on then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s desk during the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, was found guilty Monday by a jury in Washington, D.C., on all eight charges he faced.
Richard “Bigo” Barnett, 62, faces up to 47 years in prison when he is sentenced on May 3, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
Barnett was charged with disorderly conduct, obstruction of an official proceeding, aiding and abetting, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, parading, demonstrating or picketing in a capitol building, and theft of government property.
Barnett pleaded not guilty to all eight counts on Feb. 4, 2021.
After nine days of testimony and legal arguments in the highly anticipated trial, the jury deliberated Monday morning and reached guilty verdicts in less than two hours.
After the verdict, Barnett told reporters outside the court courthouse, “This is not a jury of my peers. I don’t agree with the decision, but I do appreciate the process and we are surely going to appeal.”
Barnett became a symbol of the Jan. 6 riot when he was photographed reclining in a chair in the speaker’s office, with his feet propped up and a smug expression on his face. Before leaving Pelosi’s office, Barnett took an envelope that he later displayed for cameras outside the Capitol. Barnett reportedly had a stun gun tucked in his pants.
During the trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Gordon probed Barnett’s version of Jan. 6 and poked holes in his testimony, visibly angering Barnett.
Barnett, who a day earlier had said he would apologize to Pelosi if she were in court, admitted during cross-examination that when a police officer told him he needed to leave her office he replied: “You need to give up communism.”
Politico reported that Barnett didn’t consider his taking of the envelope on Pelosi’s desk as theft because he paid for the envelope and removed it because he had bled all over it and wanted to remove the “biohazard.” Barnett claims he left a quarter as compensation.
Joseph McBride, the attorney representing Barnett, had argued that Barnett was “involuntarily” pushed into the Capitol by the surging crowd and that his actions were “grounded in political protest.”
“He loves God,” McBride said Monday in an interview with the Times. “He loves his country. He understands he did something wrong. He doesn’t think his life should end because he put his feet up on somebody’s desk.”
Barnett, an ardent supporter of Donald Trump, was in Washington D.C. that day to protest Congress meeting to confirm Joe Biden‘s victory in the November 2020 election.
