Founder of the far-right Oath Keepers group Stewart Rhodes and codefendant Kelly Meggs have been convicted of seditious conspiracy and different costs associated to the Jan. 6 2021 Capitol assault on Tuesday.
Three different codefendants, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, and Thomas Caldwell, have been acquitted on the seditious conspiracy cost however discovered responsible of different crimes associated to the Jan. assault.
Rhodes and Meggs now face a most of 20 years in jail on the fees.
Prosecutors alleged the defendants deliberate forward of the Capitol assault to oppose the presidential transition in favor of unlawfully holding Trump in workplace, seizing the joint Congress’ certification of the Electoral College votes on Jan. 6 as “means to that end.”
They made the historic resolution to oppose the peaceable switch utilizing “any means necessary,” trying to upend centuries of lawful presidential transfers, authorities attorneys argued.
During roughly eight weeks of testimony – suffering from delays that included a Rhodes’ COVID analysis – the jury of Washington, D.C. residents witnessed a authorized battle between prosecutors and protection attorneys over whether or not the actions and phrases of the defendants have been seditious calls to motion or hyperbolic “bravado.”
Susan Walsh / AP
Government witnesses – together with former members of the Oath Keepers group, federal investigators, and regulation enforcement who served on Jan. 6, 2021 – testified that as quickly because the presidential election had been determined in Mr. Biden’s favor, Rhodes and his associates labored to oppose the lawful switch of energy, speaking of civil warfare and finally amassing weapons in a Virginia resort room earlier than some headed to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and breached the constructing.
Prosecutors offered proof together with encrypted chat messages, recorded conferences, and social media posts at trial to help its argument that the defendants had made detailed plans to go to Washington, D.C., forward of Jan. 6. Government legal professionals alleged these plans included coordinating actions and even “executing” traitors. This was not mere rhetoric, they argued. It was harmful motion.
A Yale Law School graduate, Rhodes was the alleged chief of the conspiracy, prosecutors mentioned, calling him the “architect” of the plan who penned open letters to Trump urging him to attempt to maintain onto energy. Rhodes, in a letter and subsequent communications referred to as on Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, a centuries-old regulation that referred to as for the armed protection of the federal government by a militia.
In the months earlier than the Jan. 6 assault, prosecutors alleged Rhodes’ rhetoric grew extra determined and violent, calling on Trump to invoke the act to allow an armed resistance in opposition to a rogue authorities.
“It will be 1776 all over again,” Rhodes allegedly wrote in an Oath Keepers management message group. “Force on force is the way to go.” He was not accused of really coming into the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Trump by no means invoked the act and not one of the defendants have been accused of weapons crimes, which have been two key defenses employed all through the trial.
Two former members of the Oath Keepers who pleaded responsible to costs associated to the assault informed the jury that they have been contributors within the alleged conspiracy. Jason Dolan – a member of the Florida contingent – testified he was able to “take up arms and fight back” in opposition to a rogue authorities and Graydon Young, additionally from Florida, mentioned that he and three of the defendants who entered the Capitol noticed themselves as contributors in a “Bastille-type moment,” a “momentous” occasion within the historical past of an unfolding revolution.
Rhodes testified that he believed the 2020 election was “unconstitutional,” however he additionally claimed that there was no plan to really enter the Capitol on Jan. 6, one other key rationalization employed by all defendants.
A 3rd one-time member of the far-right Oath Keepers informed the jury that he had been led to imagine that Rhodes had the telephone quantity belonging to a U.S. Secret Service agent and that Rhodes had been in touch with that particular person within the months earlier than the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.
John Zimmerman, a former member of the North Carolina chapter of the militia group and a army veteran, testified that Rhodes informed him of the alleged connection with the agent throughout a September 2020 telephone name between Rhodes and the person who Zimmerman thought was the Secret Service agent forward of a Trump rally in Fayetteville, N.C. The U.S. Secret Service mentioned it’s “aware” that people from the Oath Keepers had contacted them however they weren’t conscious of any allegations of prison wrongdoing amongst their ranks related to the Rhodes case.
“[I]t is not uncommon for various organizations to contact us concerning security restrictions and activities that are permissible in proximity to our protected sites,” a Secret Service assertion mentioned on the time of Zimmerman’s testimony.
The defendants all argued they have been in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, to supply safety to high-profile, pro-Trump attendees at numerous rallies and render first assist to protesters when wanted. Evidence offered each earlier than and in the course of the trial revealed the Oath Keepers did act as safety particulars to Trump-allied figures like Roger Stone and attended a number of pro-Trump rallies earlier than the election.
Stanley Woodward, Meggs’ lawyer, informed the jury they didn’t condone what occurred on Jan. 6, however disputed the federal government’s interpretation of occasions.
“What happened to the Capitol building is abhorrent, but these defendants are not charged with causing the events of Jan. 6,” Woodward argued.
Watkins was one among three defendants who selected to take the stand. She testified that whereas she was “just another idiot” contained in the Capitol that day – admitting to coming into the constructing and interfering with regulation enforcement – she was not a part of a conspiracy to hinder Congress’ certification.
Another defendant who determined to testify – 68-year-old Caldwell – dismissed incendiary communications prosecutors mentioned he despatched within the days surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol assault as “goofy” and informed jurors he performed no function within the riot.
Prosecutors confronted the army veteran with a few of his most violent messages from the time, discussing subjects like “hunting” ANTIFA, whether or not Oath Keepers had the power to burn down Congress “if [they] had wanted to,” and “executing some traitors,” all of which Caldwell tried to defined away.
Like Rhodes, Caldwell was not accused of really coming into the Capitol constructing in the course of the breach.
Meggs and Harrelson, each of Florida, have been allegedly key actors who led the formation of a military-style “stack” with Watkins and others as they breached the Capitol. Although they didn’t take the witness stand throughout trial, their protection attorneys contended they weren’t a part of a conspiracy, however as an alternative, a unfastened group of like-minded veterans who traveled to Washington, D.C., to supply safety providers and train the correct to protest.
Prosecutors informed the jury the defendants who testified “lied to your face” with the reasons of their actions main as much as Jan. 6 and tried to sterilize their conduct, a declare the jury agreed with.
The defendants have been “leaders” of a conspiracy to oppose the peaceable switch of energy, and the Jan. 6 Capitol breach was a way to that finish, the federal government mentioned. The alleged conspiracy, the federal government argued in its closing assertion, was born of the defendants’ “sense of entitlement that led to frustration, followed by rage and then violence.”
Jan. 6 was not the fruits of the Oath Keepers’ alleged conspiracy, however a part of a bigger plan to oppose Biden’s presidency that didn’t finish with the certification of the electoral school votes. Caldwell and Rhodes have been accused of discussing future plans of insurrection with others.
Rhodes’ authorized group urged the jury to have a look at the defendants’ information as army veterans and law-abiding gun house owners.
“They engaged themselves legally for 13 years,” mentioned James Lee Bright. By the time the 2020 election got here round, he mentioned, they’d a “deep-seated fear” for the way forward for the nation, one which finally led them to Washington, D.C.
Bright mentioned in closing arguments that the Justice Department had not met its burden to show past an affordable doubt “the big three” crimes alleged: “No plan to storm the Capitol…No plan to breach the rotunda…No plan to stop the certification of the electors,” he argued.
Other protection attorneys offered proof that the Capitol constructing was already breached by the point the Oath Keepers arrived and the defendants entered unimpeded.
Watkins’ lawyer Jonathan Crisp characterised what he mentioned was the prosecution’s selective use of the proof at trial as “reprehensible” and argued for context. Bradford Geyer, who represented Harrelson, mentioned the proof didn’t meet the federal government’s burden, urging the jury, “If the video doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” And Caldwell’s lawyer, David Fischer, urged the jury to clear his shopper’s identify.
Defense witnesses included neighbors and mates of some defendants, in addition to sure FBI brokers and consultants questioned on their investigatory processes. Others – together with people related to the Oath Keepers – have been meant to testify within the defendants’ favor, however finally didn’t as a result of an sickness in a single case and considerations of publicity to potential prison legal responsibility within the different.
One affiliate of Rhodes – Michael Greene – waived his Fifth Amendment proper aginst self-incrimination and opted to testify in Rhodes’ protection, contending that he was in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 and knew of no plan to enter the Capitol. Greene faces felony costs stemming from the Capitol breach.
Judge Amit Mehta, who oversaw the weeks-long trial, won’t set a sentencing listening to.
Mehta will quickly should preside over a second seditious conspiracy trial for the defendants’ alleged co-conspirators, accused of collaborating within the plan to oppose the peaceable switch of energy and coming into the Capitol constructing in one other “stack” formation.
The Oath Keepers defendants are one among two teams accused of seditious conspiracy, probably the most severe cost to this point alleged within the Justice Department’s probe. Members of the Proud Boys, together with chief Enrique Tarrio, will stand trial subsequent month after being charged with that and different alleged crimes.
As testimony concluded final week, Mehta informed the protection attorneys and prosecutors alike they need to be “proud” of how they carried out themselves all through the historic and high-profile proceedings.
“You have done more to demonstrate to the American people how our government works and how it is supposed to run in ways that I don’t think you all appreciate,” Mehta mentioned.