Burgettstown man pleads guilty to assaulting police during Capitol attack | News, Sports, Jobs

The Burgettstown man who attacked police officers defending the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack on Congress pleaded guilty Thursday and will likely spend several years in federal prison.

Joshua Lee Atwood, 31, pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington, D.C., to one count of assaulting, resisting or obstructing certain officers with a dangerous weapon.

As part of the agreement with federal prosecutors, Atwood faces 51 to 63 months in a federal prison. However, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss can decide on the length of the sentence when he announces the verdict on December 20.

In addition, Atwood agreed to pay the architect of the U.S. Capitol $2,000 in restitution for damages to the building and could face a fine of between $20,000 and $200,000, according to online court documents.

Atwood signed the agreement with prosecutors on Aug. 21 and formally pleaded guilty before Moss on Thursday afternoon. Sentencing guidelines took into account Atwood's prior criminal history in Washington County as well as the charges he faces for an alleged robbery and assault at the Crazy Donkey restaurant in Chester in April 2023.

Atwood was charged earlier this year with federal crimes related to the January 6, 2021, attack and was arrested in Burgettstown on April 17.

Investigators said Atwood went to former President Donald Trump's “Stop the Steal” rally on the National Mall and then marched with the rioting mob to the Capitol. He entered the building through a broken window and then left, where he began attacking police officers gathered outside a tunnel entrance beneath Lower West Terrace. Prosecutors accuse him of throwing water bottles and a metal flagpole at officers guarding the tunnel and hitting others with a wooden pole.

He then doused the police officers with pepper spray and threw the empty can at them, according to the indictment attached to the settlement. He also hit several police officers guarding the tunnel with a police shield.

“Every one of you should be ashamed of yourselves,” Atwood was heard telling police in a video recording of the riot. “Every one of you (expletive) is a part of (expletive). If you're going to betray your country like this, why are you betraying your country? Do you love our country, or do you want civil… communist (expletive)?”

Finally, Atwood threw a metal scaffold pipe at the police line, striking a DC Metro police officer's riot shield before it ricocheted and struck a Virginia State Police officer's head and neck, the indictment says. He also threw a “heavy black loudspeaker” in the direction of the officers.

“The defendant knew that the MPD officers and other law enforcement officers he attacked on January 6, 2021, were law enforcement officers lawfully performing their official duties to protect the Capitol and the people within it, and his attack was motivated by that status,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathaniel Whitesel wrote in the indictment accompanying the plea.

Investigators matched a scar on Atwood's forehead to a 2011 Washington County Jail mugshot and were able to track him down in West Virginia after his arrest on the alleged robbery last year. He was extradited to a Washington, D.C., jail after his arrest on federal charges in April and is being held there while he awaits the outcome of his case.