Prosecutor: First Capitol rioter on trial ‘lit the match’

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jurors have heard attorneys’ opening statements in the first trial for one of the hundreds of people charged with storming the U.S. Capitol last year. A federal prosecutor told the jury on Wednesday that Guy Wesley Reffitt played a leadership role in urging other rioters to charge at a line of police officers who were guarding the building on Jan. 6, 2021. Defense attorney William Welch accused prosecutors of rushing to judgment against Reffitt. A verdict in Reffitt’s trial could have an enormous impact on hundreds of other riot cases. Reffitt is charged with bringing a gun onto Capitol grounds, interfering with police officers and threatening his teenage children if they reported him to authorities.