(RepublicanInformer.com)- The attorney for one of the defendants arrested in connection with the January 6 riot at the Capitol said new audio evidence exonerates his client.
Ronald Colton McAbee, a former sheriff’s deputy from Tennessee, was arrested on August 17, 2021 on multiple charges including assaulting, resisting, or impeding a federal officer and committing an act of physical violence on the Capitol grounds or buildings.
McAbee was one of the people outside the Lower West Terrace tunnel at the time Rosanne Boyland was severely injured. As he attempted to offer lifesaving assistance to the dying Boyland, McAbee had several interactions with DC Metro police. Interactions that later resulted in the charges against him.
At his detention hearing on August 26, prosecutors accused McAbee of assaulting Metro police officer Andrew Wyatt after Wyatt fell in the tunnel entrance. Prosecutors claimed McAbee pulled Wyatt down the concrete steps into the crowd.
To bolster the claim, prosecutors played bodycam video during the hearing that conveniently did not include the audio.
And it is this audio that could pave the way for McAbee’s exoneration.
Video investigator Gary McBride of Decatur, Texas, studied the bodycam footage shown to the court, but he did it with the audio track turned on.
According to McBride, the audio reveals that McAbee was attempting to save officer Wyatt. He said the analysis showed McAbee didn’t pull Wyatt down the steps. Instead, McAbee was pushed backward and lost his balance after two protesters started pulling on Wyatt’s legs. McAbee then fell on top of Wyatt.
The audio revealed that when McAbee was on top of Wyatt, protesters around him called him a traitor, probably for helping Wyatt. McAbee was also heard yelling, “No!” and “Quit!” when someone tried to grab at officer Wyatt.
In a May 2022 motion to get his client released from jail, defense attorney William Shipley argued that the prosecution’s video evidence exonerates McAbee “of the very allegations made against him.”
Last week, The Epoch Times reviewed the case of Ronald McAbee and how this audio could change the direction of the case against him.
Read that HERE.
