Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers, has been found guilty of seditious conspiracy and other offenses in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
A federal jury in Washington, D.C., also convicted Rhodes of obstructing an official proceeding and tampering with documents. He was acquitted of two other conspiracy counts.
Rhodes did not enter the Capitol during the riot, but instead stood outside like a "battlefield general" surveying his troops, prosecutor Jeffrey Nestler said.
All five defendants on trial in this case were charged with seditious conspiracy but only one in addition to Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, was found guilty. The three other defendants — Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson and Thomas Caldwell — were acquitted on that central charge.
But all of the defendants were found guilty of obstructing an official proceeding as well as a mix of other charges.
Jurors returned their verdict after nearly three full days of deliberations.
U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who testified during the trial, sat in the front row for the jury verdict. He looked emotional and let out a long sigh after the jury filed out of the courtroom.
The prosecution of the Oath Keepers leader and his co-defendants is the most consequential Jan. 6 case yet to have gone to trial.
Prosecutors accused the five of plotting to prevent, by any means necessary including force, the peaceful transfer of presidential power to Joe Biden.
Rhodes and the other Oath Keepers were the first Jan. 6 defendants to go to trial on seditious conspiracy charges. Two more seditious conspiracy trials — one involving more Oath Keepers and the other a group of Proud Boys — are set to start in the coming weeks.
Prosecution's case
In this trial,
the government called more than two dozen witnesses, including FBI agents, U.S. Capitol Police officers and two Oath Keepers who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy.
But the foundation of the government's case was the hundreds of text messages, Facebook communications as well as audio and video recordings that allowed jurors to see and hear what the defendants were saying and thinking in the months leading up to Jan. 6, on the day itself and afterward.
A federal jury found the Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and one other defendant guilty of seditious conspiracy in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
www.npr.org
Nope, no justice at all can be found in DC for those who were just touring the Capitol on January 6th, 2012.
www.thegatewaypundit.com
