Stewart Rhodes, founder and leader of the far-right group Oath Keepers, a kind of ultra paramilitary militia, was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison for the storming of the Capitol, the highest sentence ever imposed. Both he and his lieutenant Kelly Meggs were convicted of seditious conspiracy and for mobilizing supporters of Donald Trump who did not admit the victory of Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election and tried to prevent by force prevent the peaceful transition of power and illegally keep Donald Trump in power.
Speaking before the judge handed down his sentence, Rhodes has called himself a "political prisoner" and said his only crime is to oppose those who are "destroying" the country. Judge Amit Mehta has told him: "You, sir, pose a continuing threat and danger to this country, to the republic and to the very fabric of our democracy." The sentence was handed down in the federal courthouse building in Washington, just a few hundred meters from the Capitol.
At the sentencing hearing, Judge Amit Mehta accepted prosecutors' request for aggravated sentences for "terrorism", arguing that the Oath Keepers tried to influence the government through "intimidation or coercion". In previous rulings, judges had rejected that Justice Department request.
The jury convicted Rhodes and Meggs in December of last year in the first sedition convictions for the storming of the Capitol. Others have followed after that. Four other members of the same group were convicted of seditious conspiracy in January, and four members of the Proud Boys were also charged earlier this month, including its president, Enrique Tarrio.
The 12-member jury has been deliberating for three days since the end of a trial that lasted nearly two months. The Prosecutor's Office accused the leader of the Oath Keepers of being willing to take up arms to keep Trump as president in the most important trial of all those held until then for that episode, both for the charges presented and for the identity of the courts. Rhodes entered restricted Capitol grounds, but not the building. He stayed out coordinating activities while many of his group members went into paramilitary formation.
Rhodes and Meggs were also found guilty of obstruction of official proceedings and falsification of documents and procedures. Three other members of the Oath Keepers were acquitted of sedition but convicted of several other offences, including obstruction of official proceedings and tampering with documents and proceedings.
During the trial, the prosecutor maintained that the leader of the Oath Keepers and other members of his militia had firearms in a Virginia hotel on Jan. 6, 2021, and were willing to use them. The defendants denied the charges, but prosecutors showed recordings in which Rhodes regretted not bringing his guns to the assault on the Capitol and said he could have hung House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat Nancy Pelosi, especially hated by the ultra-right, from a lamppost.
After agreeing to go to Washington on Jan. 6 through apps with encrypted communications, the Oath Keepers organized themselves into teams that were prepared and willing to use force and transport firearms and ammunition to Washington, according to the Justice Department. They recruited members and affiliates, organized training to teach and learn paramilitary combat tactics, and brought paramilitary equipment, weapons, and supplies—including knives, batons, camouflaged combat uniforms, vests, helmets, eye protection, and radio equipment—to the Capitol; They stormed and attempted to take control of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 in an effort to prevent, hinder, and delay the certification of the Electoral College vote.
Rhodes, 58, the son of a Marine who began his career as a paratrooper, graduated in political science with a brilliant record at the University of Nevada and then studied law at the elite Yale University. He founded the Oath Keepers in 2009 and organized them as a far-right militia to defend against alleged abuses by the federal government following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The intimidating presence of its armed members became common at political rallies and demonstrations and its leader, who wears a patch covering the glass eye he has had since accidentally shooting himself in the face with his own weapon, became the face of the militia.
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