Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers group, has been recommended a 25-year jail sentence by the Justice Department. He was convicted of seditious conspiracy for his participation in a violent plot to impede Joe Biden’s ascension by attacking the Capitol on January 6, 2021. According to prosecutors, Rhodes collaborated with his far-right extremist group to stage an armed takeover in an attempt to keep presidential power with Donald Trump. Rhodes was found guilty by a Washington, D.C. jury in November of 2021, marking one of the most significant cases brought with regard to the attack on the Capitol. A mob of Trump supporters violated police officers, broke windows, and temporarily stalled Congress’ approval of Biden’s triumph.
Rhodes is scheduled to be sentenced later this month, and prosecutors made the recommendation a day after another extremist group called the Proud Boys, of which four leaders (including former national chairman Enrique Tarrio) were convicted of seditious conspiracy, facing charges for a separate plot to keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election.
Rhodes’ lawyers have not yet recommended how much time the judge should impose, but they will appeal the sentence. A Yale Law School graduate and former Army paratrooper, Rhodes took to the witness stand at trial to insist there was no plot to assault the Capitol and that the Oath Keepers who did so acted on their own. Nonetheless, Rhodes was convicted of obstructing Congress’ certification of Biden’s electoral success, although he was cleared of two other conspiracy accusations. Many people who participated in the attack were indicted, and dozens of officers were injured while lawmakers had to flee for their lives. Rhodes, who did not enter the Capitol, was the first Jan. 6 defendant to be convicted of seditious conspiracy at trial, along with his co-defendant Kelly Meggs, the leader of the Florida Oath Keepers.
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