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☆ A lawyer for the far-right Oath Keepers was deemed incompetent and her trial over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot will be delayed
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( Katie Hawkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Kellye SoRelle was charged with conspiracy related to the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021. Experts found SoRelle incompetent to stand trial, recommending three to four months of treatment. Prosecutors charged SoRelle with conspiracy in September 2022 related to the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021. Photos from the riots show SoRelle in attendance alongside Stewart Rhodes, founder and leader of the Oath Keepers. According to the Associated Press, SoRelle — who was acting as the general counsel for the Oath Keepers — was also present at a meeting with Rhodes the night before the Capitol riots.

Persons: Kellye SoRelle, —, Amit Mehta, She's, Stewart Rhodes, Rhodes, SoRelle — Organizations: Service, Associated Press, Prosecutors, Capitol, Politico Locations: Texas

☆ A 'lifelong criminal' who told his wife — and a jury — that he had 'fun' on January 6 was sentenced to 6 years in prison for attacking cops
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Associated Press | Chris Kaye | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

But the judge who sentenced Maly noted that most of his crimes date back to his 20s. Maly told US District Judge Amit Mehta that he regrets traveling to Washington and following the mob of then-President Donald Trump's supporters to the Capitol. It's that you did these things and kept doing them that day," the judge told him. Maly testified at his trial that participating in the Capitol riot was "fun" for him. The judge sentenced Schwartz last month to 14 years and two months in prison, the longest for a Jan. 6 case before Rhodes, and sentenced Brown in April to four years and six months in prison.

Persons: Markus Maly, Maly, —, Markus Maly's, Amit Mehta, Donald Trump's, they're, Stephen Rancourt, Stewart Rhodes, Joe Biden, Christopher Boyle, Rancourt, Peter Schwartz, Jeffrey Scott Brown, Schwartz, Brown, Rhodes, Benjamin Schiffelbein, Schiffelbein Organizations: Service, Justice, Maly, Prosecutors, Capitol, Trump, Republican, Democrat, Metropolitan Police, Associated Locations: Washington, Fincastle , Virginia, West Terrace

☆ Two More Oath Keepers Members Receive Sentences for Sedition in Jan. 6 Case
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Zach Montague | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A federal judge sentenced two members of the Oath Keepers militia to less than four years in prison for seditious conspiracy on Friday, placing a brake on the government’s effort to impose lengthy terms on members of the group for roles in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021. The two men, David Moerschel and Joseph Hackett, who traveled from Florida to join the Oath Keepers in Washington on Jan. 6, received terms of three years and three and a half years, respectively. Judge Amit P. Mehta, who has presided over three separate Oath Keepers trials that all have now concluded, diverged from federal guidelines in his decisions in Federal District Court in Washington this week. The judge veered toward leniency with members lower in the Oath Keepers’ hierarchy. Two others convicted of seditious conspiracy were sentenced this week to no more than four and a half years in prison.

Persons: David Moerschel, Joseph Hackett, Amit P, Mehta, Prosecutors, Moerschel, Hackett, Stewart Rhodes, Kelly Meggs Organizations: Court, Mr Locations: Florida, Washington

Mehta since last week has sentenced six other Oath Keepers members to prison terms ranging from three to 18 years. Both men were among a group of Oath Keepers who breached the Capitol on the day of the attack, clad in paramilitary gear. The men are among six Oath Keepers found guilty of seditious conspiracy. Two other Oath Keepers convicted of seditious conspiracy, Robert Minuta and Edward Vallejo, were sentenced on Thursday. The judge has delayed the sentencing of Thomas Caldwell, another Oath Keepers member who acquitted on the seditious conspiracy charge but convicted of other crimes.

Persons: Donald Trump's, Judge Amit Mehta, Joseph Hackett, David Moerschel, Mehta, Hackett, Moerschel, Joe Biden's, Hackett's, Stewart Rhodes, Robert Minuta, Edward Vallejo, Minuta, Thomas Caldwell, Jacqueline Thomsen, Will Dunham Organizations: U.S, Capitol, Prosecutors, Trump, Republican, Representatives, U.S . Army, Yale University, Thomson Locations: United States, Virginia, Washington, Vallejo

☆ Two Oath Keepers convicted of sedition in US Capitol attack sentenced to prison
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Sarah N. Lynch | Thomson Reuters | Sarah N. Lynch Is The Lead Reporter For Reuters Covering The U.S. Justice Department Out Of Washington | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Prosecutors said he stayed at a suburban Virginia hotel where the Oath Keepers had staged a "quick reaction force" and stashed firearms to be quickly ferried into Washington if needed. Mehta also ordered Vallejo to serve a year of home confinement after his prison term during a three-year period of supervised release. Minuta told the judge he has since disavowed the Oath Keepers and feels "repulsed" by the lack of remorse shown by Rhodes. In addition to Rhodes, three other co-defendants were sentenced last week to between four and 12 years in prison. Joseph Hackett and David Moerschel, co-defendants in the trial in which Minuta and Vallejo were convicted - are due to be sentenced on Friday.

Persons: Donald Trump's, Judge Amit Mehta, Roberto Minuta, Edward Vallejo, Mehta, Stewart Rhodes, Vallejo, Prosecutors, Minuta, I'm, Trump, Roger Stone, Rhodes . Rhodes, Joe Biden's, Rhodes, Joseph Hackett, David Moerschel, Hackett, Sarah N, Lynch, Will Dunham, Mark Porter Organizations: U.S, Capitol, Vallejo, Republican Trump, Moerschel, Thomson Locations: United States, Virginia, Washington, Minuta

☆ More Oath Keepers convicted of sedition in US Capitol attack face sentencing
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Sarah N. Lynch | Thomson Reuters | Sarah N. Lynch Is The Lead Reporter For Reuters Covering The U.S. Justice Department Out Of Washington | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Federal prosecutors are asking U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta to sentence Roberto Minuta and Edward Vallejo to 17 years in prison each after they were convicted in January alongside two other Oath Keepers members. If the judge follows that recommendation, those would be the second-longest sentences for any of the 1,000-plus people charged in the Capitol attack that was intended to block Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden's November 2020 election victory over the Republican Trump. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, convicted in November of seditious conspiracy and other charges, was sentenced by Mehta last week to 18 years in prison, the longest of any of the sentences. Prosecutors said he stayed at a suburban Virginia hotel where the Oath Keepers had staged a "quick reaction force" and stashed firearms to be quickly ferried into Washington if needed. Joseph Hackett and David Moerschel, co-defendants in the trial in which Minuta and Vallejo were convicted - are due to be sentenced on Friday.

Persons: Donald Trump's, Judge Amit Mehta, Roberto Minuta, Edward Vallejo, Joe Biden's, Republican Trump, Stewart Rhodes, Mehta, Rhodes, Trump, Roger Stone, Minuta, Vallejo, Prosecutors, William Shipley, Matthew Peed, Peed, al, Joseph Hackett, David Moerschel, Hackett, Sarah N, Lynch, Will Dunham Organizations: U.S, Capitol, Republican, Minuta, World Trade, Moerschel, Thomson Locations: United States, Virginia, Washington, Vallejo, Minuta

☆ Roberto Minuta: Oath Keepers member who sped to Capitol on a golf cart gets more than four years in prison
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Hannah Rabinowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —An Oath Keeper who acted as part of a security detail on January 6 for Roger Stone before rushing to join the riot at the Capitol was sentenced to more than four years in prison Thursday for seditious conspiracy. Roberto Minuta, who prosecutors described as one of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes’ “most trusted men,” was not initially at the Capitol but sped over in a golf cart when he learned of the breach, prosecutors said. “This isn’t about the words themselves,” Judge Amit Mehta said during the sentencing hearing Thursday. “You weren’t charged and convicted because of your words. The law doesn’t permit that,” Mehta said.

Persons: Roger Stone, Roberto Minuta, Stewart Rhodes ’, ”, ” Prosecutors, Amit Mehta, ” Mehta, Minuta, Mehta, ” Minuta, “, naïve, Rhodes “, ” “, Rhodes Organizations: CNN, Capitol, ” Locations: Washington, DC, New York

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta on Friday sentenced Harrelson to four years in prison. Earlier on Friday, the judge imposed a prison sentence of eight and a half years for Watkins. Members of the Oath Keepers, founded in 2009, include current and retired U.S. military personnel, law enforcement officers and first responders. Some of the Oath Keepers, including Watkins and Harrelson, breached the Capitol, a few clad in paramilitary gear. Four other Oath Keepers members convicted of seditious conspiracy in a second trial are due to be sentenced next week.

☆ Sedition Sentence for Oath Keepers Leader Marks Moment of Accountability
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Alan Feuer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A few hours after Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers militia, was sentenced on Thursday to 18 years in prison for his role in a seditious conspiracy to instigate the pro-Trump violence of Jan. 6, Matthew M. Graves, the federal prosecutor who has overseen the government’s investigation of the Capitol attack, released a statement with a fact that underscored the landmark nature of the moment. “More people were convicted of seditious conspiracy in connection with the siege of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021,” Mr. Graves wrote, “than any other criminal event since the statute was enacted during the Civil War.”Nearly two and a half years after supporters of President Donald J. Trump stormed the Capitol in an effort to derail the peaceful transfer of power, Mr. Rhodes’s sentencing was the most high-profile statement of accountability yet for an episode that seems certain to occupy a dark place in American history and remains a flashpoint in American politics. Amid the more than 1,000 criminal cases filed so far by the Justice Department against those who played a role in the attack, the prosecution of Mr. Rhodes, accused of plotting to mobilize his followers into storming the Capitol in two separate military-style “stacks,” stood out in a way that the judge who sentenced him, Amit P. Mehta, articulated in court on Thursday.

The founder of the far-right Oath Keepers has been sentenced to 18 years in federal prison in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol following his conviction on seditious conspiracy. Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy in November along with Kelly Meggs, a fellow Oath Keepers member who will be sentenced later Thursday afternoon. "I had no idea that any Oath Keeper was even thinking about going inside or would go inside," Rhodes said. With Trump (preferably) or without him, we have no choice," Rhodes wrote in a message ahead of Jan. 6. "Patriots, it was a long day but a day when patriots began to stand," Rhodes wrote the night of Jan. 6.

Persons: Stewart Rhodes, Amit Mehta, Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Meggs, Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson, Thomas Caldwell, Watkins, Harrelson, Peter Schwartz, Schwartz Organizations: Trump, Patriots Locations: Olive Garden, Virginia

☆ Prosecutors Seek 25-Year Jail Term for Oath Keepers Founder Stewart Rhodes for Jan. 6 Role
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Stewart Rhodes, founder of the militia group known as the Oath Keepers, was on Capitol grounds but didn’t enter the building on the day of the attack. Photo: Susan Walsh/Associated PressFederal prosecutors urged a federal judge late Friday to sentence Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes to 25 years in prison for plotting to prevent the peaceful transfer of power, casting the punishment for the far-right group’s leader as a critical moment in the reckoning with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. If ultimately ordered, the 25-year sentence would go down as the longest handed down to date in the wave of more than 1,000 prosecutions stemming from the assault on the Capitol.

[1/2] Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes is seen on video during the hearing of the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 9, 2022. The Justice Department is also seeking a sentence of 21 years for another Oath Keepers leader, Kelly Meggs, who was also found guilty in November of seditious conspiracy by a Washington, D.C., jury. The same Washington jury that convicted Rhodes and Meggs cleared three other co-defendants, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell, of seditious conspiracy. The charges of seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding each carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Four other members of the Oath Keepers were convicted in January of seditious conspiracy for their roles in the attack.

A welder by trade, Schwartz was arrested in early February in his hometown of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Schwartz and two co-defendants, Jeffrey Scott Brown and Markus Maly, became the first three individuals convicted at trial of assaulting police officers with pepper spray on Jan. 6. Schwartz's wife, Shelly Stallings, received a two-year prison term last month. His 170-month prison term surpasses the previous longest sentence yet handed down in a case related to the Jan. 6 attack - 10 years received by former New York City cop Thomas Webster for assaulting a Washington police officer that day. The Jan. 6 attack marked the most violent assault on the halls of Congress since the British invasion of Washington during the War of 1812.

☆ Jan. 6 Rioter Gets 14 Years for Police Attacks, Longest Sentence Yet in Inquiry
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Alan Feuer | Zach Montague | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At a hearing in Federal District Court in Washington, the man, Peter Schwartz, 49, joined a growing list of people charged with assaulting the police on that day who have received stiff sentences. Until now, the longest sentence in a Jan. 6 case had been the 10-year term given to Thomas Webster, a former New York City police officer who was found guilty last year of swinging a metal flagpole at an officer at the Capitol. The sentence could presage more long prison terms to come. The prosecutors said holding Mr. Rhodes accountable at his sentencing hearing, scheduled for May 24, would be essential to preserving American democracy. His punishment, they said, could help decide whether “Jan.

☆ Four Proud Boys Convicted of Sedition in Key Jan. 6 Case
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Alan Feuer | Zach Montague | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Four members of the Proud Boys, including their former leader Enrique Tarrio, were convicted on Thursday of seditious conspiracy for plotting to keep President Donald J. Trump in power after his election defeat by leading a violent mob in attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The jurors in the case failed to reach a decision on the sedition charge for one of the defendants, Dominic Pezzola, although he was convicted of other serious felonies. The trial was the last of three major sedition cases that federal prosecutors brought against key figures in the Capitol attack. The sedition charge, which is rarely used and harks back to the Union’s efforts to protect the federal government against secessionist rebels during the Civil War, was also used in two separate trials against nine members of another far-right group, the Oath Keepers militia. Six of those defendants — including Stewart Rhodes, the organization’s founder and leader — were convicted of sedition; each of the others was found guilty of different serious felonies.

☆ Proud Boys' ex-leader Enrique Tarrio found guilty of seditious conspiracy for Jan. 6 Capitol riot
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was found guilty of seditious conspiracy Thursday. A seditious conspiracy charge carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years. But prosecutors said he organized and directed the attack by Proud Boys who stormed the Capitol that day. In addition to Tarrio, a Miami resident, three other Proud Boys were convicted of seditious conspiracy: Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl. As Proud Boys swarmed the Capitol, Tarrio cheered them on from afar, writing on social media: "Do what must be done."

☆ Jury convicts Proud Boys members of seditious conspiracy in US Capitol attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Sarah N. Lynch | Thomson Reuters | Sarah N. Lynch Is The Lead Reporter For Reuters Covering The U.S. Justice Department Out Of Washington | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

In addition to Tarrio, Proud Boys members Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl were convicted of seditious conspiracy under a Civil War-era law - a charge that can carry up to 20 years in prison. The trial of the Proud Boys members was the longest of any of those arising from the Capitol attack, with the 12-member jury in federal court in Washington hearing about 50 days of testimony since January. To mobilize, according to prosecutors, Tarrio, Rehl, Nordean and Biggs created what they called the Ministry of Self Defense, comprising about 65 Proud Boys members who exchanged encrypted messages. Defense lawyers told the jury their clients had no plans to attack the Capitol and had traveled to Washington merely to protest. The defense also sought to blame Trump, saying he was the one who urged protesters to descend on the Capitol.

Proud Boys former leader, Enrique Tarrio, and 3 others were found guilty of seditious conspiracy on Thursday. Seditious conspiracy is when people conspire to overthrow, put down, or destroy the government. Enrique Tarrio, Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean, and Zachary Rehl were all found guilty of seditious conspiracy as well as charges of conspiracy to obstruct Congress. But, the prosecutors succeeded, and the four convicted Proud Boys members could face up to 20 years in prison. The jury is still split about seditious conspiracy and obstruction charges against a fifth Proud Boys member, Dominic Pezzola, according to NBC News.

Bertino, of Belmont, North Carolina, pleaded guilty last fall to seditious conspiracy charges. The jury on Wednesday was shown messages in which Bertino encouraged Proud Boys at the Capitol to keep pressing and “form a sphere” to advance further on the grounds. In private messages with Tarrio, Bertino expressed elation at the riot, which forced lawmakers to flee and temporarily halted the certification of the election results in the U.S. Congress. The Proud Boys case marks the third seditious conspiracy trial to arise from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. In two previous trials, several members of the far-right Oath Keepers, including founder Stewart Rhodes, were convicted on seditious conspiracy charges.

☆ What Trump allies have faced criminal charges?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Here is a look at some of the Trump aides and allies who have faced criminal prosecution. Weisselberg pleaded guilty in 2022 and served as a star witness in the Trump Organization's criminal trial on tax fraud charges. Two other close Trump associates, Mark Meadows and Daniel Scavino, did not face similar criminal charges despite a House vote recommending them. Trump pardoned Broidy. Roughly 570 have pleaded guilty and 78 have been found guilty at trial.

Persons: Steve Bannon, Shannon Stapleton, Donald Trump, Six, Prosecutors, Trump, STEVE BANNON Trump's, Bannon, Joe Biden's, swindling Trump, ROGER, Stone, ALLEN WEISSELBERG, Weisselberg, PETER NAVARRO, Navarro, Mark Meadows, Daniel Scavino, MICHAEL COHEN, Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal, Cohen, MICHAEL FLYNN, Flynn, PAUL MANAFORT, Manafort, RICK, Gates, ELLIOT BROIDY, Broidy, Stewart Rhodes, Andy Sullivan, Will Dunham, Scott Malone, Daniel Wallis Organizations: White House, REUTERS, Companies Trump Organization Inc, WASHINGTON, Six Trump, House, . House, Capitol, Trump, Trump White House, U.S, Army, Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, FBI, Thomson Locations: New, New York City, U.S, New York, Mexico, Moscow, United States, Russian Ukrainian, Russia

☆ The Paradox of Prosecuting Domestic Terrorism
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( James Verini | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +52 min

The preventive approach to domestic terrorism goes back even further than the 1990s and it begins with the basic police work and surveillance of the joint terrorism task forces. In fact, there is no section of the U.S. Criminal Code that criminalizes domestic terrorism as such. The absence of clear law around domestic terrorism, and the imperatives of prevention, mean that investigators and prosecutors who work domestic terrorism cases must focus on more common charges: weapons violations, illegal drug possession, burglary, aiding and abetting and so forth. But this was not enough to overrule the fear of domestic terrorism that was gripping the nation and that hung in the courtroom. It reflected the legal paradoxes of the case and domestic terrorism law in general or, maybe more accurately, the absence of it.

☆ Oath Keepers Members Found Guilty of Seditious Conspiracy in Jan. 6 Riot
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Jan Wolfe | C. Ryan Barber | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Members of the Oath Keepers at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. A jury on Monday found four Oath Keepers members guilty of seditious conspiracy in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, handing down the latest criminal convictions against the far-right group. The verdict came nearly two months after Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and another member of the militia group, Kelly Meggs, were found guilty of seditious conspiracy, a rarely used charge with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. In that earlier trial, three other members of the Oath Keepers were found guilty of lesser charges.

A jury on Monday convicted four members of the extremist group the Oath Keepers of seditious conspiracy. The trial, which started Dec. 12, included testimony from Brian Ulrich, a member of the Oath Keepers’ Georgia chapter who had pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding. ... I’m not afraid and I’m ready to f---ing go.”The four defendants were charged as part of the same seditious conspiracy case involving Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes that went to trial in October. Rhodes and Kelly Meggs, the leader of the group’s Florida chapter, were convicted of seditious conspiracy in November. The maximum sentence for seditious conspiracy — a rarely used Civil War era statute — is 20 years in federal prison.

The 12-member jury found Oath Keeper members David Moerschel, Joseph Hackett, Roberto Minuta and Edward Vallejo guilty of seditious conspiracy. Seditious conspiracy is a rarely prosecuted Civil War-era law that prohibits plotting to overthrow or destroy the government and carries up to 20 years in prison. A jury found Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and another Florida-based leader of the group guilty of seditious conspiracy in a separate trial in November. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta split the Oath Keepers seditious conspiracy case into two separate trials due to space limitations and the risks of COVID-19 contagion. Jurors heard testimony and evidence in the second Oath Keepers case for several weeks.

The closing arguments on Wednesday marked the end of the second major seditious conspiracy trial stemming from the attack. The Oath Keeper members are accused of conspiring to block Congress from certifying Biden's election victory. Seditious conspiracy is a rarely prosecuted Civil War-era statute that carries up to 20 years in prison if convicted. In November, a jury convicted Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and a Florida chapter leader of seditious conspiracy, but acquitted three other Oath Keeper defendants of the charge. All five Oath Keepers in that case, however, were convicted of obstructing Congress from certifying the electoral votes - a charge that can also carry up to 20 years.

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