A former La Habra police chief was convicted Thursday of participating in the U.S. Capitol riot with an ax in his backpack and conspiring to prevent Congress from ratifying President Biden’s 2020 election victory.

A judge in Washington federal court heard testimony without a jury before sentencing Alan Hostetter, a right-wing activist and vocal critic of COVID-19 restrictions who defended himself at trial with the help of a stand-by attorney.

Hostetter used his closing arguments to make up conspiracy theories about the January 6, 2021 riot. He falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen from former President Trump, portrayed himself as a victim of FBI corruption, and referred to the mob attack as a federal set-up involving crisis actors in costumes. He downplayed the violence in the Capitol, essentially calling the riot the equivalent of a three-hour hissing attack.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth told Hostetter that no reasonable person would allow a seasoned police officer to believe it was legal to use mob violence to obstruct Congress.

Believing that your actions are for a greater good doesn’t diminish awareness of wrongdoing, Lamberth said.

Hostetter, who previously served as police chief of the La Habra Police Department, was convicted of all four charges, including conspiracy to obstruct official proceedings and entering a restricted area with a deadly or dangerous weapon. The court ruled on October 1. 13, and denied a request from the Justice Department to immediately jail Hostetter.

Federal prosecutors said Hostetter has no evidence to support his conspiracy theories, but stressed he was charged with crimes for his January 6 actions, not his political beliefs. Prosecutor Jason Manning said Hostetter advocated violence and mobilized allies to join him in Washington on Jan. 6 because he did not like the election results.

For many Americans, the horror of January 6 came out of nowhere. Not for the defendant, Manning said.

Hostetter was arrested in June 2021 along with five other men. Their indictment linked four of Hostetter’s co-defendants to the Three Percenters wing of the militia movement. Their name refers to the myth that only 3% of Americans fought against the British in the Revolutionary War.

Hostetter said he had no affiliation with the Three Percenters movement and accused prosecutors of falsely portraying him as a caricature of a radical terrorist.

One of Hostetter’s co-defendants, Russell Taylor, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in April. Taylor tested for the government at Hostetter’s trial. A trial for the other four is scheduled for October.

The six men Hostetter, Taylor, Eric Scott Warner, Felipe Antonio Martinez, Derek Kinnison and Ronald Mele were part of a chat group called “The California Patriots-DC Brigade” on Telegram, on an encrypted messaging platform, prosecutors said. Taylor posted that he established the group for combatants who were expected to bring guns and plates to Washington on Jan. 6, prosecutors said.

All six co-defendants entered restricted areas of the Capitol during the riot, prosecutors said. Hostetter was not charged with entering the Capitol.

On Instagram, Hostetter posted a photo of himself and Taylor on the Upper West Terrace of the building with rioters in the background. A message below the photo said, “This was the shot heard around the world! the 2021 version of 1776. That lasted 8 years. We’re just warming up.

Hostetter started teaching yoga after more than 20 years on the force. In the spring of 2020, he founded a non-profit organization, the American Phoenix Project. He used the tax-exempt organization to oppose COVID-19 restrictions and advocate for violence against political opponents after the 2020 presidential election.

In November 2020, Hostetter drove from California to Washington to attend the “Million MAGA March” in support of Trump. Along the way, he posted a video to his nonprofit’s YouTube channel expressing his belief that Trump’s election was stolen and calling for the killing of tyrants and traitors.

In December 2020 Hostetter’s nonprofit organized a Stop the Steal rally in Huntington Beach.

America’s enemies and traitors, both foreign and domestic, must be held accountable. And they will, he said at the meeting. It should carry long prison terms while execution is the just punishment for the leaders of this group.

A day before the riot, Taylor gave a speech at a Virginia Women for Trump rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court calling for violence to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, prosecutors said.

We are free Americans and in these streets we will fight and bleed before we allow our freedom to be taken from us, Taylor said, according to the indictment.

More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the U.S. Capitol uprising. About 100 of them have been convicted after trials decided by judges or juries. More than 600 others have pleaded guilty.