WASHINGTON — The founding father of the Oath Keepers extremist group was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in jail for orchestrating a weekslong plot that culminated in his followers attacking the U.S. Capitol in a bid to maintain President Joe Biden out of the White House after the 2020 election.
Stewart Rhodes is the primary particular person charged within the Jan. 6, 2021, assault to be sentenced for seditious conspiracy, and his sentence is the longest that has been handed down up to now within the a whole bunch of Capitol riot circumstances.
It’s one other landmark within the Justice Department’s sweeping Jan. 6 investigation, which has led to convictions towards the highest leaders of two far-right extremist teams that authorities say got here to Washington ready to struggle to maintain President Donald Trump in energy in any respect prices.
Prosecutors had urged the decide in Washington’s federal courtroom to place Rhodes behind bars for 25 years, saying he stays a risk to American democracy.
In remarks earlier than the decide handed down his sentence, Rhodes referred to as himself a “political prisoner” and stated his solely crime is opposing those that are “destroying” the nation.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows beneath.
WASHINGTON — Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes can be sentenced Thursday after a landmark verdict convicting him of spearheading a weekslong plot to maintain former President Donald Trump in energy, culminating in far-right extremists attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Prosecutors are searching for 25 years behind bars for Rhodes, who can be sentenced within the federal courtroom in Washington that sits lower than a mile from the Capitol. He would be the first Jan. 6 defendant convicted of seditious conspiracy to obtain his punishment, which can set the usual for a slew of extremists group members’ sentencings to come back.
Prosecutors say Rhodes stays a risk to American democracy greater than two years after he led a plot to forcibly block the switch of energy from Trump to President Joe Biden after Trump misplaced the 2020 election.
At Thursday’s listening to, in a primary for a Jan. 6 case, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed with prosecutors to use enhanced penalties for “terrorism,” below the argument that the Oath Keepers sought to affect the federal government by way of “intimidation or coercion.” Judges in earlier sentencings had shot down the Justice Department’s request for the so-called “terrorism enhancement” — which might result in an extended jail time period — however Mehta stated it matches in Rhodes’ case.
“Mr. Rhodes directed his co-conspirators to come to the Capitol and they abided,” the decide stated.
Defense lawyer, Phillip Linder denied that Rhodes gave any orders for Oath Keepers to enter the Capitol on Jan. 6. Linder informed the decide that Rhodes might have had many extra Oath Keepers come to the Capitol “if he really wanted to” disrupt Congress’ certification of the Electoral College vote.
Rhodes, of Granbury, Texas, was discovered responsible in November of seditious conspiracy alongside Florida chapter chief Kelly Meggs, and 4 different Oath Keepers have been convicted of the hardly ever used cost throughout a second trial in January. Three of Rhodes’ co-defendants have been acquitted of seditious conspiracy however convicted of different crimes.
It was one of the crucial consequential circumstances introduced by the Justice Department because it has sought to show that the riot for right-wing extremists just like the Oath Keepers was not a spur-of-the-moment protest however the end result of weeks of plotting to overturn Biden’s election victory.
Rhodes’ sentencing comes simply weeks after former Proud Boys nationwide chairman Enrique Tarrio was convicted of seditious conspiracy alongside different leaders of his far-right group for what prosecutors stated was a separate plot to dam the switch of presidential energy. The Proud Boys can be sentenced in August and September.
Rhodes’ attorneys say he must be sentenced to the 16 months he has already served behind bars since his January 2022 arrest. In searching for leniency for Rhodes, his attorneys cited his navy service and informed the decide that Rhodes’ writings and statements have been all “protected political speech.” Rhodes’ attorneys plan to attraction his conviction.
Meggs is anticipated to be sentenced after Rhodes later Thursday and two different Oath Keepers can be sentenced Friday. Four different defendants convicted of seditious conspiracy can be sentenced subsequent week.
The decide canceled the sentencing listening to scheduled this week for an additional defendant — Thomas Caldwell of Berryville, Virginia — because the decide weighs whether or not to overturn the jury’s responsible verdict towards Caldwell for obstruction and a paperwork tampering cost.
The convictions have been a serious blow for the Oath Keepers, which Rhodes based in 2009 and grew into one of many largest far-right anti-government militia teams. Recruiting previous and current members of the navy and cops, the group promotes the idea that the federal authorities is out to strip residents of their civil liberties and paints its followers as defenders towards tyranny.
The protection tried to grab on the truth that not one of the Oath Keepers’ messages laid out an specific plan to storm the Capitol. But prosecutors stated the Oath Keepers noticed a chance to additional their purpose to cease the switch of energy and sprang into motion when the mob started storming the constructing.
Messages, recordings and different proof offered at trial present Rhodes and his followers rising more and more enraged after the 2020 election on the prospect of a Biden presidency, which they seen as a risk to the nation and their lifestyle. In an encrypted chat two days after the election, Rhodes informed his followers to organize their “mind, body, spirit” for “civil war.”
In a convention name days later, Rhodes urged his followers to let Trump know they have been “willing to die” for the nation. One Oath Keeper who was listening was so alarmed that he started recording the decision and contacted the FBI, telling jurors “it sounded like we were going to war against the United States government.”
Another man testified that after the riot, Rhodes tried to steer him to go alongside a message to Trump that urged the president not to surrender his struggle to carry onto energy. The middleman — who informed jurors he had an oblique method to attain the president — recorded his assembly with Rhodes and went to the FBI as a substitute of giving the message to Trump. Rhodes informed the person throughout that assembly that the Oath Keepers “should have brought rifles” on Jan. 6.
The longest sentence up to now within the greater than 1,000 Capitol riot circumstances — 14 years in jail — was handed down this month for a person with a protracted felony report who attacked cops with pepper spray and a chair as he stormed the Capitol. Just over 500 of the defendants have been sentenced, with greater than half receiving jail time and the rest getting sentences reminiscent of probation or house detention.
___
Richer reported from Boston.
Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com