"A rookie police officer would not have shot this woman," Mr Roberts said. "If she committed any crime by going through the window and into the Speaker's Lobby, it would have been trespassing. Some misdemeanor crime. All a rookie cop would have done is arrest her."
He claimed the officers - who were facing down a crowd of thousands of Trump supporters trying to breach the building - could have simply arrested her.
"And he has plenty of other officers there to assist with arrest," the lawyer said. "You had officers on Ashli's side of the door in riot gear and holding submachine guns. And on the other side of the door you have another uniformed officer 6 or 8 feet away. Whose life is he saving by shooting her? ... She's not brandishing a weapon. She's on the window ledge. And there's no reason to think she's armed."