One of the more high-profile North Texas defendants in the US Capitol riot is standing trial in Washington today, where a judge will decide the case.
Local actor Luke Coffee was seen in a video on January 6, 2021 at the front of a line of people trying to forcibly get into the US Capitol building. He was holding someone's crutch over his head and the FBI says he was using that crutch on police who were guarding the entrance.
Rather than let a federal court jury decide, Coffee is having Washington D.C. US District Judge Rudolph Contreras decide the facts, and the judge has already made a key ruling.
Judge Contreras will not allow expert testimony to say that Coffee was acting in self-defense. The judge says he is equally capable as a former police officer to decide whether the evidence supports Coffee's claim.
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