January 6 Rioter First to Be Acquitted of Obstruction, Convicted on Other Charges

An Alabama man was acquitted on a charge of obstruction he faced but was convicted on several other charges for his role in the January 6 Capitol riot.

Joshua Black, 46, of Leeds, Alabama, was found guilty of several federal and misdemeanor charges by U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson after a week-long bench trial in Washington, DC. However, Black is the first defendant to be acquitted of obstruction in relation to the January 6 riot, Politico reported.

Before Black entered the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, along with other rioters to protest the certification of the 2020 presidential election, he had been shot in the face with a police projectile. Images of Black from that day show his cheek bleeding as a result of being hit.

He then allegedly recorded videos of himself on the Senate floor, with blood still on his cheek, recounting what had just occurred, according to an FBI affidavit.

“I had accomplished my goal. I pled the blood of Jesus on the Senate floor. You know, I praised the name of Jesus on the Senate floor,” Black said in one of the recordings. “That was my goal. I think that was God’s goal.”

At the conclusion of the bench trial, the judge acquitted Black of the obstruction charge, saying that she was uncertain whether he was aware his actions were unlawful. She also remarked that he had a “unique stew in his mind.”

However, the judge stated there was enough to meet the criteria for the defendant to be convicted on the charge of “entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon,” as he had carried a knife into the Capitol Building.

“Black told investigators he carried his knife instead of a gun in order to abide by D.C. gun laws, and he kept the knife in case he needed it for self-defense,” according to Politico. Furthermore, the defendant described the weapon as a “hunting knife.”

Black was additionally found guilty of “disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon on Capitol grounds or buildings; entering and remaining on the floor of Congress; and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building,” the Justice Department stated in a press release.

Black is currently facing a maximum of 15 years and six months in prison when he is sentenced at a later date, in addition to financial penalties.

Since the January 6 riot two years ago, there have been 950 individuals arrested and over 284 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, per the Justice Department.

You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.