WASHINGTON (AP) —] Two members of the Oath Keepers who stormed the U.S. Capitol in a military-style formation shall be sentenced Friday, a day after the far-right extremist group’s founder obtained an 18-year jail time period for seditious conspiracy and different fees within the Jan. 6, 2021 assault.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta will sentence Army veterans Jessica Watkins and Kenneth Harrelson after handing Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes the longest jail sentence to this point in additional than 1,000 legal instances introduced within the Jan. 6 riot.

Watkins and Harrelson had been acquitted of seditious conspiracy however convicted of obstructing Congress within the trial alongside Rhodes and different members of the group that resulted in November. One of their different co-defendants, Florida chapter chief Kelly Meggs, was sentenced Thursday to 12 years behind bars.

Harrelson was the group’s “ground team lead” when Oath Keepers joined the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 and disrupted the joint session of Congress certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory. Watkins based and led a separate Ohio-based militia. Harrelson and Watkins marched towards the Capitol with different Oath Keepers members in “stack” formations.

Rhodes, 58, of Granbury, Texas, was the primary Jan. 6 defendant convicted of seditious conspiracy to obtain his punishment for what prosecutors mentioned was a weekslong plot to forcibly block the switch of energy from former President Donald Trump to Biden. Four different Oath Keepers convicted of the sedition cost throughout a second trial in January shall be sentenced subsequent week.

Justice Department prosecutors are searching for an 18-year jail sentence for Watkins, of Woodstock, Ohio, and a 15-year jail sentence for Harrelson, of Titusville, Florida.

Mehta canceled a sentencing listening to scheduled this week for one more defendant — Thomas Caldwell of Berryville, Virginia — because the choose weighs whether or not to overturn the jury’s responsible verdict in opposition to Caldwell for obstruction and a paperwork tampering cost.

Lawyers for Oath Keepers argued there was no plan to assault the Capitol and insisted they by no means supposed to intervene with Congress’ certification of the election. Watkins testified on the trial that storming the Capitol was a “really stupid” choice, saying she acquired swept up in what appeared to be a “very American moment.” Harrelson didn’t take the witness stand.

During his sentencing Thursday, Rhodes defiantly claimed to be a “political prisoner,” criticized prosecutors and the Biden administration and tried to minimize his actions on Jan. 6. The choose described Rhodes as a continued menace to the United States who clearly “wants democracy in this country to devolve into violence.”

The choose in Rhodes’ case agreed with the Justice Department that Rhodes’ actions must be punished as “terrorism,” which will increase the advisable sentence underneath federal tips. Judges had beforehand rejected such requests in different Jan. 6 instances.

The Oath Keepers’ sentences this week may function a information for prosecutors in a separate Jan. 6 case in opposition to leaders of the Proud Boys extremist group. Earlier this month, a unique jury convicted former Proud Boys nationwide chairman Enrique Tarrio and three different group leaders of seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors mentioned was one other plot to maintain Trump within the White House.

Before Thursday, the longest sentence within the greater than 1,000 Capitol riot instances was 14 years and two months for a person with a protracted legal 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.

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Richer reported from Boston.

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