Jesse James Rumson, the person who dressed in a panda costume as he took half within the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, has been convicted of assaulting a regulation enforcement officer, in response to court docket paperwork.
Earlier this month, Rumson waived his proper to a jury trial, opting as a substitute for bench trial. He was convicted on all eight counts by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols Friday for assaulting and resisting Prince George’s County Cpl. Scott Ainsworth and for broader disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds. Rumson is scheduled to be sentenced in September.
Government exhibit
After rioters broke a door within the Senate wing on Jan. 6, 2021, prosecutors stated Rumson hopped over railings and was “among the first approximately twenty” to entry the constructing by way of that entryway. Pictures from that day present Rumson, carrying a panda costume head and wielding a white flag that learn, partly, “Don’t tread on me.” Charging papers stated he was known as “#SeditionPanda” by some on-line communities.
While he was contained in the Capitol, prosecutors stated Rumson misplaced his panda head and was apparently handcuffed earlier than being compelled out of the Capitol by way of one other door.
But in court docket paperwork, prosecutors introduced photographic proof that appeared to point out rioters serving to take away {the handcuffs} from Rumson’s wrists.
Government exhibit
Once freed, he allegedly ran by way of the group gathered exterior the Capitol and in direction of a line of officers defending the constructing. He then allegedly grabbed an officer’s masks, “which forced the officer’s head and neck back and upwards.”
Prosecutors confirmed a number of photos of Rumson each with and with out the panda headpiece. Rumson was arrested in February 2023, greater than two years after the assault on the Capitol.
Ainsworth, the officer who was attacked, testified concerning the assault by Rumson final week, in response to NBC News.
Department of Justice
The Justice Department has prosecuted greater than 1,200 legal instances within the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol assault. Of these, greater than 700 had pleaded responsible to varied costs, and scores extra have been convicted.