BREAKING: Oath Keepers Leader Convicted For Seditious Conspiracy Over January 6 Insurrection—-Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was convicted Tuesday of seditious conspiracy for a violent plot to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential win, handing the Justice Department a major victory in its massive prosecution of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
A Washington, D.C., jury found Rhodes guilty of sedition after three days of deliberations in the nearly two-month-long trial that showcased the far-right extremist group’s efforts to keep Republican Donald Trump in the White House at all costs.
Using dozens of encrypted messages, recordings and surveillance video, prosecutors made the case that shortly after the 2020 election, Rhodes began to prepare an armed rebellion to stop the transfer of presidential power.
Over seven weeks of testimony, jurors heard how Rhodes rallied his followers to fight to defend Trump, discussed the prospect of a “bloody” civil war and warned that the Oath Keepers may have to “rise up in insurrection” to defeat Biden if Trump didn’t act.
Rhodes and a co-defendant, who was also convicted of seditious conspiracy, are the first people in nearly three decades to be found guilty of the rarely used Civil War-era charge at trial.
The trial was the biggest test yet for the Justice Department in its efforts to hold accountable those responsible for the attack that shook the foundations of American democracy.
Seditious conspiracy calls for up to 20 years behind bars.
On trial alongside Rhodes, of Granbury, Texas, were Kelly Meggs, leader of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers; Kenneth Harrelson, another Florida Oath Keeper; Thomas Caldwell, a retired Navy intelligence officer from Virginia; and Jessica Watkins, who led an Ohio militia group.
Meggs was also found guilty of seditious conspiracy on Tuesday, while the other three defendants were acquitted of that charge.
CREDIT: https://www.cbc.ca/
