Former Army ranger Robert Morss of Shaler, convicted of storming the Capitol in support of Donald Trump’s lies and assaulting police, got a good look Monday at what he’s likely facing when he gets sentenced for his violence next month in Washington, D.C.
A co-defendant from Texas who went on trial with him in the summer was sentenced Monday to 32 months in federal prison.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden imposed that term on David Judd, 36, of Carrollton, Texas, a city on the northern outskirts of Dallas.
McFadden held a bench trial in August for Judd, Morss and another rioter, Geoffrey Sills of Virginia, and convicted them all on charges of assault and other offenses pertaining to battling cops in a Capitol melee.
Judd was part of a group of Trump rioters who entered the Capitol grounds after attending Trump’s rally at the Ellipse and joined in violent action against police in the tunnel of the Lower West Terrace. From 2:40 p.m., police maintained a line at the second set of glass doors inside the tunnel and fought rioters there until 3:19, when they cleared out the crowd.
At 2:43 p.m., video shows Judd at the mouth of the tunnel, waving other rioters in and then participating in the “heave-ho” against the police line. He then stood outside the tunnel, where he received police shields from rioters fighting cops inside, and passing them to his cohorts.
Judd also lit a firecracker-type device at 3:07 p.m. and threw it at the cops.
Morss engaged in similar conduct, as the trial showed, and is likely to receive a similar prison term on March 27.
An Afghanistan combat veteran, he was convicted of obstructing an official proceeding, assaulting police with a weapon and robbery.
Morss joined the rioters around 2 p.m. wearing a vest designed to hold body armor and carrying a knife sheath and scissors.
He moved to the front of the line of rioters who were squaring off with police and tried to steal a baton from an officer. He also removed a bike rack fence from an officer, leaving no barrier between the rioters and the police, and then yelled to his fellow insurrectionists: “Take a look around. We are going to take our Capitol back.”
He joined a line of rioters and pushed police back, participating in the same heave-ho as Judd. He then wrestled a riot shield from an officer and passed it back to others, Judd being one of them. The rioters then created their own shield wall for use against the police.
Morss also later climbed through a broken window, stole a chair and handed it to fellow rioters.
The FBI arrested him in June 2021. He’s been in custody since.
Morss had served three tours in Afghanistan and then worked briefly as a substitute teacher in the Shaler district.
He is among two dozen people from Western Pennsylvania charged in the insurrection. In the two years since the attack, more than 985 people from all 50 states have been arrested for crimes related to the breach. Of those, 319 have been charged with assaulting police or impeding law enforcement, like Morss and Judd.
The investigation is continuing as the FBI tracks down more rioters.
Just Monday, agents arrested Jesse James Rumson, 37, of Florida, on numerous felony and misdemeanor charges. Prosecutors said he stormed the Capitol wearing a panda bear headpiece.
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
