Ex-Capitol Police Officer Found Guilty of Obstruction in Jan. 6 Case
U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff found former Capitol Police Officer Joseph Walsh guilty Wednesday of obstruction of Congress, making false statements and perjury.
Rakoff found there was a “substantial likelihood” of conviction for those three charges. He did not decide on counts of making false statements and making false records.
A federal court jury convicted Walsh in 2010 of three counts of making false statements about a covert CIA operation. He was found not guilty of perjury.
Walsh, a former Marine and undercover operative, was charged with providing false information about the CIA operation because he didn’t have the authority for the operation he was involved in. He denied the charges, calling them “total nonsense.”
After being hit with the obstruction and perjury charges, Walsh has taken every opportunity to attack the federal investigation, saying the prosecution shows the government seeks to muzzle truth-tellers.
In his sentencing memo, Walsh wrote that the case was “based on a number of faulty assumptions” and “a few simple, but totally false suppositions.” He argued prosecutors did not prove a “smoking gun.”
“The Government produced no evidence of false statements, no proof of falsity, and no proof of direct communication between Walsh and the CIA,” Walsh wrote. “It was the Government’s burden to show that an individual in Walsh’s position, who was directly involved in the covert operation at the time of the alleged false statements, had the authority to engage in that operation.”
Walsh also said the government “failed to establish that any false statements were knowingly, and specifically, made in support of a covert operation.”
In his four-page sentencing memo, the government asked the judge to impose a prison term of six months and a $30,000 fine on Walsh.
Rakoff said he didn’t need to decide on how much of the fine Walsh will pay.
Walsh and former Capitol Police Officer Joseph Walsh
“The Court has already decided that a fine is inappropriate,” Rakoff said, referring to the fact that Walsh isn’t collecting it. “This was a serious crime, involving an investigation of alleged wrongdoing. Walsh is, therefore, the type of person, who,