A man who wore a large panda head to the Jan. 6 Capitol rebel and was referred to as “Sedition Panda” after going viral on-line was once convicted on eight counts Friday, including assaulting a police officer.
Jesse James Rumson used to be convicted of assaulting Prince George’s County Cpl. Scott Ainsworth on Jan. 6, 2021, following a close-by rally for Donald Trump, who had lost the 2020 presidential election.
Rumson was arrested in Florida in 2023 after the FBI identified him from images and video photos displaying him casting off the panda head. Web sleuths also worked to ID the person, and used the hashtag #seditionpanda. In addition to assaulting an officer, charges in opposition to Rumson included impeding, resisting, enticing in violence, and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Rumson opted for a bench trial ahead of Trump-appointed U.S. District Decide Carl Nichols, and testified in his personal safeguard.
The decide discovered that Rumson listened to Trump’s speech the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, then marched to the Capitol with other protesters. He found that Rumson time and again rushed towards police and in the end made his way throughout the Capitol.
In keeping with the affidavit, Rumson spent around quarter-hour within the building. The decide stated there can be no cheap doubt that Rumson knew he wasn’t speculated to be within the Capitol that day, “particularly after he used to be placed in handcuffs” and later freed by different rioters before he assaulted Ainsworth.
In line with the FBI affidavit, Rumson ran “through the crowd in opposition to the officer, accomplishing out, and grabbing the officer’s face protect, which pressured the officer’s head and neck back and upwards.”
“His behavior on the Capitol used to be no accident,” Nichols said.
In his defense, Rumson “admitted that he made contact with Ainworth’s helmet however claimed it used to be unintentional. He supplied no logical reason for why he rushed at police again and again,” NBC News suggested.
Nichols set Rumson’s sentencing for Sept. 5 at eleven a.m. “Sedition Panda” was allowed to roam free – at the least for now – after the federal government declined to maneuver for fast post-conviction confinement.
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