Ashli Babbitt's Brother Convicted In Point Loma Battery, Hate Crime

SAN DIEGO, CA — The brother of Ashli Babbitt, the San Diego woman fatally shot during the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breach, was convicted Wednesday of misdemeanor battery and a hate crime allegation for striking a Latino San Diego Gas & Electric worker in Point Loma and shouting racial slurs at the man.

Roger Witthoeft, 34, was found guilty by a San Diego jury of accosting the worker at a Point Loma intersection in September of last year.

The San Diego City Attorney's Office said the victim was directing traffic around a work site at the intersection of Voltaire Street and Mendocino Boulevard when Witthoeft confronted him.

Prosecutors say Witthoeft slapped the worker and told him to "talk in English you (expletive) immigrant" and "go back to your country."

Witthoeft faces up to one year in jail, a year of probation and a $1,000 fine when he is sentenced next month.

"This jury has sent a clear message that violent, abusive, and racist conduct like this has no place in our community," San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott said in a statement.

Witthoeft also remains charged for an alleged altercation last January with another man on Muir Avenue in Ocean Beach.

Prosecutors say in that case he struck the victim, knocking him to the ground, then stomped on the man's phone. The City Attorney's Office said the victim was helping a disabled friend out of a car when Witthoeft grew angry because the man's car was blocking a sidewalk.

Witthoeft was also convicted in 2016 for an altercation with a 71-year- old man in Lakeside, in which he screamed at the man, kicked the door of the man's truck and kicked out the window of the victim's camper shell, according to prosecutors. He was charged with felony vandalism, but pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was placed on probation.

— City News Service