WASHINGTON — Two Donald Trump supporters who traveled to Philadelphia with guns after the 2020 presidential election were convicted on weapons charges Wednesday but acquitted on three election-related counts.
Joshua Macias and Antonio LaMotta, both of Virginia, were arrested Nov. 5, 2020, near the Philadelphia Convention Center, where votes were being counted after the presidential election. The pair, who traveled to Philadelphia in a silver Hummer bearing a QAnon sticker, were found to be carrying a Beretta 9 mm 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 Macias and LaMotta on gun charges Wednesday, but they were acquitted on the election-related counts, according to Lauren Mayk of NBC Philadelphia, who was in the courtroom. The pair had faced three election-related charges: interference with primaries/elections, hindering performance of duty and conspiracy-interference with primaries/elections.
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.
District Attorney Larry Krasner said the felony convictions under the Uniform Firearms Act would prevent Macias and LaMotta from owning firearms under both Virginia law and federal law. Both were convicted on two counts, he said, praising the "collaborative investigative work" that led to their arrests.
"While we respect the court’s authority and decision today, it seems clear that post-January 6th, the decades-old statute regarding Interference with Primaries and Elections ought to be revisited and improved by the Pennsylvania Legislature," Krasner said in a statement. "I encourage every Pennsylvanian who loves democracy and equality to vote this November for legislators who will seek to extend democratic participation to all Americans — not seize it by force or impeachment from political opponents."
LaMotta, as NBC News has reported, was arrested on separate charges in August after online sleuths spotted him in video that showed him inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Macias, who has not been charged in connection with the Capitol attack, was at a meeting between Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and Proud Boys head Enrique Tarrio in a Washington, D.C., parking garage the night of Jan. 5.
