TIWN
Washington, Dec 1 (TIWN) Stewart Rhodes, founder of the US far-right group Oath Keepers, and his associate Kelly Meggs were found guilty by a jury of seditious conspiracy and other charges for crimes related to the Capitol Hill riot on January 6, 2021.
Seditious conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
The three other codefendants tried alongside Rhodes — Kenneth Harrelson, Thomas Caldwell, and Jessica Watkins — were cleared of the seditious conspiracy charge, the Associated Press reported. Rhodes was also acquitted of two other conspiracy charges. All five of the defendants were found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding.
Rhodes' lawyer said on Tuesday that he plans to appeal the conviction, NBC News reported.
According to the original indictment, authorities claimed that Rhodes conspired “to oppose by force the lawful transfer of presidential power” by stopping the certification of the Electoral College on Jan. 6.
Prosecutors said that he and the other defendants “coordinated travel across the country to enter Washington, DC, equipped themselves with a variety of weapons, donned combat and tactical gear, and were prepared to answer Rhodes’s call to take up arms at Rhodes’s direction.”
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