Trial opens for police officer charged with storming Capitol

WASHINGTON (AP) — An off-duty police officer stormed the U.S. Capitol because he believed the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump and he wanted to interfere with the certification of President Joe Biden's electoral victory, a federal prosecutor said Tuesday at the start of the Virginia man's trial.

But a defense attorney told jurors that former Rocky Mount, Virginia, police officer Thomas Robertson only went into the Capitol because he wanted to retrieve a fellow officer who had entered the building before him during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

Jacob Fracker, the other off-duty Rocky Mount police officer who entered the Capitol that day, could be a key witness for prosecutors at Robertson's trial. Robertson was a mentor and a father figure to Fracker, attorneys said during their opening statements.

Two other Capitol riot defendants already have been tried on federal charges arising from the Jan. 6 siege. The first two trials both ended with convictions, although a judge acquitted one of those defendants of a disorderly conduct charge.

Another trial for a Capitol riot case started Tuesday. While jurors heard testimony for Robertson's trial, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden heard testimony without a jury for the case against Matthew Martin, who has worked for a government contractor at the National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Martin, who is accused of remaining inside the Capitol for about 10 minutes, testified that he saw a police officer wave him into the building. He also said he followed the crowd into the building.

“I went with the flow,” said Martin, whose trial is scheduled to resume on Wednesday.

Fracker was set to be tried alongside Robertson this week, but he pleaded guilty last month to a riot-related conspiracy charge and...