WASHINGTON — Two Donald Trump supporters who traveled to Philadelphia with guns after the 2020 presidential election were convicted on weapons charges on Wednesday, but acquitted on three election-related counts.
Joshua Macias and Antonio LaMotta, both of Virginia, were arrested in Philadelphia on Nov. 5, 2020, near the Philadelphia Convention Center, where votes were being counted following the presidential election. The pair traveled to Philadelphia in a silver Hummer bearing a QAnon sticker and were found to be carrying a Beretta 9mm pistol and a concealed Beretta .40 caliber handgun, while storing an AR-15 style weapon inside their truck, along with around 160 rounds of ammunition.
A judge convicted both Macias and LaMotta on gun charges on Wednesday, but the duo were acquitted on the election-related counts, according to Lauren Mayk of NBC10 in Philadelphia, who was in the courtroom. The pair had faced three elections-related charges: interference with primaries/elections, hindering performance of duty, and conspiracy-interference with primaries/elections.
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The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office said it believed the case was the most serious state election-related prosecution in Pennsylvania that grew out of the 2020 election.
LaMotta, as NBC News previously reported, was arrested on separate charges in August after online sleuths spotted him in footage that showed him inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Macias has not been charged in connection with the Capitol attack, but was present at a meeting between Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and Proud Boys head Enrique Tarrio that took place in a Washington, D.C., parking garage the night of Jan. 5, 2021.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
