Rhodes was convicted of treasonable conspiracy stemming from the January 6 riots.
Jan. 2017 The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to sentence Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes to 25 years in prison on charges of treasonous conspiracy and other crimes in January 2014. 6 Attack on the US Capitol.
Prosecutors handed down the sentences sought by Rhodes and eight other sworn guards who were convicted of multiple crimes following two separate trials in November and January last year. Six of the nine defendants were convicted on the main treasonous conspiracy charge, and three others — Jessica Watkins, Thomas Caldwell and Kenneth Harrelson — were found not guilty of that charge but convicted of other serious crimes.
“These defendants were willing to fight. Not for their country, but against it,” prosecutors said in their 183-page sentencing request Friday evening. “In their own words, they were ready to “die” in “guerrilla warfare” to achieve their goal of stopping the transfer of power after the 2020 presidential election.”
The referral for Rhodes, the longest ever for any person charged in connection with the Capitol attack, reflects what prosecutors believe is his role in a core organization of far-right militants — one that Rhodes is not alleged to have entered. Capitol Building on January 6.
D.C. District Judge Amit Mehta, who will sentence Rhodes and other sworn guard members, Jan. It comes on the same day that the capital handed down the heaviest sentence to a rioter with a long criminal history accused of repeated attacks on police on the 6th. attack Mehta sentenced Peter Schwartz, of Pennsylvania, to more than 14 years in prison Friday afternoon, 10 years less than prosecutors had requested.
In its sentencing recommendation for Rhodes and the eight sworn police defendants, the government seeks to promote terrorism in urging the judge to accept a departure from the usual sentencing guidelines.
Because there is no specific federal charge for domestic terrorism — early on in the investigation into the capital attack, they advocated enhancing terrorism on perpetrators, getting harsher sentences for the most egregious behavior, and more clearly labeling their actions as attacks on the United States. Government.
The DOJ has previously sought to use this development. Jan. who was declared guilty in the investigation. 6 rioter to Guy Refitt, but a judge overruled it.
“An upward departure … is warranted to all nine defendants, whose relevant conduct was “calculated to influence or influence governmental conduct by threat or coercion, or to retaliate against governmental conduct,” prosecutors filed. “All nine defendants actively participated in a conspiracy to oppose by force the constitutional transfer of presidential power. Those who have.”
