Posted on Nov 30, 2022
Oath Keepers Leader Convicted of Sedition in Landmark Jan. 6 Case
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Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, was convicted on Tuesday along with one of his subordinates of seditious conspiracy as a jury found them guilty of seeking to keep former President Donald J. Trump in power through an extensive plot that started after the 2020 election and culminated in the mob attack on the Capitol.
The jury in Federal District Court in Washington found three other defendants in the case not guilty of sedition and acquitted Mr. Rhodes of two separate conspiracy charges.
The split verdicts, coming after three days of deliberations, were a landmark — if not total — victory for the Justice Department, which poured enormous effort into prosecuting Mr. Rhodes and his four co-defendants.
The jury in Federal District Court in Washington found three other defendants in the case not guilty of sedition and acquitted Mr. Rhodes of two separate conspiracy charges.
The split verdicts, coming after three days of deliberations, were a landmark — if not total — victory for the Justice Department, which poured enormous effort into prosecuting Mr. Rhodes and his four co-defendants.
Oath Keepers Leader Convicted of Sedition in Landmark Jan. 6 Case
Posted from nytimes.com
Treason
Crime
Law
Oath Keepers
Posted >1 y ago
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Good. Jan 6th is the most serious thing I've seen happen to this country probably in my lifetime. While few lives were lost, the seriousness of the line that was crossed was much greater than even Sept 11th.
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Conviction was specifically over sedition. Meaning is that Rhodes' actions were an effort to specifically incite violence against lawful authority.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sedition
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sedition
incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority… See the full definition
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CPL LaForest Gray
Chapter 115 - TREASON, SEDITION, AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES
SOURCE : https://casetext.com/statute/united-states-code/title-18-crimes-and-criminal-procedure/part-i-crimes/chapter-115-treason-sedition-and-subversive-activities
Federal Criminal Law: January 6, 2021, Unrest at the Capitol
SOURCE :
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title18/part1/chapter115&edition=prelim
18 U.S.C. 2385 - Advocating overthrow of Government
SOURCE :
https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2011-title18/USCODE-2011-title18-partI-chap115-sec2385
Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; or
Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or
Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
If two or more persons conspire to commit any offense named in this section, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
As used in this section, the terms “organizes” and “organize”, with respect to any society, group, or assembly of persons, include the recruiting of new members, the forming of new units, and the regrouping or expansion of existing clubs, classes, and other units of such society, group, or assembly of persons.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 808; July 24, 1956, ch. 678, § 2, 70 Stat. 623; Pub. L. 87–486, June 19, 1962, 76 Stat. 103; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(N), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/LSB/LSB10564
Treason, Sedition, And Subversive Activities
* 2383 – Rebellion or insurrection. Inciting or assisting a rebellion against the United States, or giving comfort to those who insight an insurrection, can be imprisoned for up to 10 years under this statute.
* § 2384 – Seditious conspiracy. If two or more people in the U.S. conspire to overthrow, destroy, or oppose the U.S. government by force or to prevent the application of the law or to take property of the U.S. contrary to its authority, they can be imprisoned for up to 20 years.
* § 2385 – Advocating overthrow of Government. Knowingly and willfully advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government or the government of any states or territories can result in a fine and up to 20 years of imprisonment. Organizing groups to overthrow the government or circulating materials aimed at overthrowing the government can also result in charges under this statute, as can conspiring to commit any of the offenses listed in 18 U.S. Code section 2385.
SOURCE :
https://www.lvcriminaldefense.com/usc/treason-sedition-and-subversive-activities/
SOURCE : https://casetext.com/statute/united-states-code/title-18-crimes-and-criminal-procedure/part-i-crimes/chapter-115-treason-sedition-and-subversive-activities
Federal Criminal Law: January 6, 2021, Unrest at the Capitol
SOURCE :
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title18/part1/chapter115&edition=prelim
18 U.S.C. 2385 - Advocating overthrow of Government
SOURCE :
https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2011-title18/USCODE-2011-title18-partI-chap115-sec2385
Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; or
Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or
Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
If two or more persons conspire to commit any offense named in this section, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
As used in this section, the terms “organizes” and “organize”, with respect to any society, group, or assembly of persons, include the recruiting of new members, the forming of new units, and the regrouping or expansion of existing clubs, classes, and other units of such society, group, or assembly of persons.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 808; July 24, 1956, ch. 678, § 2, 70 Stat. 623; Pub. L. 87–486, June 19, 1962, 76 Stat. 103; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(N), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/LSB/LSB10564
Treason, Sedition, And Subversive Activities
* 2383 – Rebellion or insurrection. Inciting or assisting a rebellion against the United States, or giving comfort to those who insight an insurrection, can be imprisoned for up to 10 years under this statute.
* § 2384 – Seditious conspiracy. If two or more people in the U.S. conspire to overthrow, destroy, or oppose the U.S. government by force or to prevent the application of the law or to take property of the U.S. contrary to its authority, they can be imprisoned for up to 20 years.
* § 2385 – Advocating overthrow of Government. Knowingly and willfully advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government or the government of any states or territories can result in a fine and up to 20 years of imprisonment. Organizing groups to overthrow the government or circulating materials aimed at overthrowing the government can also result in charges under this statute, as can conspiring to commit any of the offenses listed in 18 U.S. Code section 2385.
SOURCE :
https://www.lvcriminaldefense.com/usc/treason-sedition-and-subversive-activities/
United States Code | Chapter 115 - TREASON, SEDITION, AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES | Casetext
Browse United States Code | Chapter 115 - TREASON, SEDITION, AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES for free on Casetext
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."As part of the plot, prosecutors maintained, Mr. Rhodes placed a “quick reaction force” of heavily armed Oath Keepers at a Comfort Inn in Arlington County, Va., ready to rush their weapons into Washington if their compatriots at the Capitol needed them. Mr. Caldwell, a former Navy officer, tried at one point to secure a boat to ferry the guns across the Potomac River, concerned that streets in the city might be blocked.
Mr. Rhodes tried to persuade the jury during his testimony that he had not been involved in setting up the “quick reaction force.” But he also argued that if Mr. Trump had invoked the Insurrection Act, it would have given the Oath Keepers the legal standing as a militia to use force of arms to support the president.
On Jan. 6 itself, Mr. Rhodes remained outside the Capitol, standing in the crowd like “a general surveying his troops on the battlefield,” Mr. Nestler said during the trial. While prosecutors acknowledged that he never entered the building, they claimed he was in touch with some of the Oath Keepers who did go in just minutes before they breached the Capitol’s east side.
Even with the convictions, the government is continuing to prosecute several other Oath Keepers, including four members of the group who are scheduled to go on trial on seditious conspiracy charges on Monday. A second group of Oath Keepers is facing lesser conspiracy charges at a trial now set for next year, and Kellye SoRelle, Mr. Rhodes’s onetime lawyer and girlfriend, has been charged in a separate criminal case."
..."As part of the plot, prosecutors maintained, Mr. Rhodes placed a “quick reaction force” of heavily armed Oath Keepers at a Comfort Inn in Arlington County, Va., ready to rush their weapons into Washington if their compatriots at the Capitol needed them. Mr. Caldwell, a former Navy officer, tried at one point to secure a boat to ferry the guns across the Potomac River, concerned that streets in the city might be blocked.
Mr. Rhodes tried to persuade the jury during his testimony that he had not been involved in setting up the “quick reaction force.” But he also argued that if Mr. Trump had invoked the Insurrection Act, it would have given the Oath Keepers the legal standing as a militia to use force of arms to support the president.
On Jan. 6 itself, Mr. Rhodes remained outside the Capitol, standing in the crowd like “a general surveying his troops on the battlefield,” Mr. Nestler said during the trial. While prosecutors acknowledged that he never entered the building, they claimed he was in touch with some of the Oath Keepers who did go in just minutes before they breached the Capitol’s east side.
Even with the convictions, the government is continuing to prosecute several other Oath Keepers, including four members of the group who are scheduled to go on trial on seditious conspiracy charges on Monday. A second group of Oath Keepers is facing lesser conspiracy charges at a trial now set for next year, and Kellye SoRelle, Mr. Rhodes’s onetime lawyer and girlfriend, has been charged in a separate criminal case."
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