The January 6 rioters, who openly wore “Hitler mustaches” to their jobs at a Navy base, were convicted on all counts on Friday after testifying that they did not know Congress was found inside the Capitol. Was—and blamed it on—his ignorance growing up in New Jersey. ,
Timothy Hale-Cusanelli made the surprising claim last week in Washington, D.C., federal court after a witness stood in his defense at his trial.
“I know it sounds silly, but I’m from New Jersey,” Hale-Cusanelli said according to WUSA-TV.
“In all my studies, I didn’t know there was an actual building called the ‘Capital.’ It’s embarrassing and silly.”
Following the verdict, Federal Judge Trevor McFadden called the testimony “highly suspicious” and suggested he would consider imposing a harder sentence because of it.
Hale-Cusanelli obtained a “secret” security clearance to work at Naval Weapons Station Earle in Colts Neck, NJ, and was accused of attacking the Capitol to obstruct the authentication of President Joe Biden’s election victory over former President Donald Trump. He served as an army reservist before his arrest. Trump.
He was caught on camera abusing the police and shouting, “The revolution will be broadcast!”
Prosecution court papers also depicted him as a white supremacist and Nazi sympathizer who dreams of a second American Civil War, and whose cellphone sported an Adolf Hitler-style mustache and smiled for the camera at work in April 2020 There were pictures of haircuts. He too shouted and kept his hand on his heart.
McFadden barred prosecutors from using the photos as evidence, but jurors learned of text messages in which Hale-Cusanelli told his friends how the 2020 election results could be reversed and Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats.
Jury members also watched a video of him attempting to wave to other rioters inside the Capitol through a skylight and overheard a post-riot conversation secretly recorded by his NWS Earl roommate, which led him to a Naval Criminal Investigation Reported to the service.
During his testimony, Hale-Cusanelli identified himself as half-Jewish and half-Puerto Rican, and defense attorney Jonathan Crisp described him as someone who made “extreme statements to get attention”. lamps.
Crisp – who noted that Hale-Cusanelli wore a suit to peacefully protest the election results – also blamed his client’s decision to join the crowd that called the Capitol “groupthink” and a “desire to be heard”. “Attacked.
The jurors deliberated less than six hours before indicting Hale-Kusanelli on one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, one felony and four related misdemeanors.
A juror told WUSA that he was disturbed by Hale-Kusanelli’s use of anti-Semitic slurs, given his testimony that he was half-Jewish.
Hale-Cusanelli’s adopted aunt, Cynthia Hughes—who runs the Patriot Freedom Project to support the families of the January 6 defendants—condemned the verdict outside the courthouse.
“There will never be a fair and unbiased jury in this city,” she said.
Hale-Kusanelli, who has been held without bail since his arrest on January 15, 2021, will be sentenced on September 16.
post with wires
