Feds Move to Toss Jan. 6 Conspiracy Convictions
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
The Justice Department has asked a federal appeals court to overturn the seditious conspiracy convictions of leaders from the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who were previously sentenced for organizing efforts tied to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, with the goal of keeping President Trump in office after the 2020 election.
In filings submitted Tuesday, prosecutors urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to wipe out the convictions and allow the government to drop the underlying charges entirely. This request includes several high-profile figures, among them Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who did not receive clemency in a broad set of pardons issued last January.
President Trump previously commuted the prison sentences of multiple leaders from both groups in January, as part of a large-scale clemency decision affecting more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the January 6, 2021, Capitol breach. In addition, on the first day of his second term, he granted pardons to other individuals tied to the same case, including former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio.
The Justice Department’s move would go further than the earlier commutations and pardons by seeking to erase convictions entirely for several defendants. Those include Oath Keepers members Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, and Jessica Watkins, as well as Proud Boys members Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola.
A jury in Washington, D.C., had previously found these leaders guilty of coordinating violent plans aimed at disrupting the transfer of power after President Trump’s 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. Rhodes, who received an 18-year prison sentence, was accused by prosecutors of organizing armed “quick reaction force” teams positioned at a Virginia hotel, though those weapons were never deployed.
According to the Justice Department filing signed by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the request to vacate the convictions is consistent with how prosecutors sometimes seek dismissal in cases where they determine it is in the interests of justice. The filing argues that such motions are routinely granted by higher courts.
The proposal marks a major shift from the approach taken under the Biden administration, which described the prosecutions as a significant effort to hold accountable those responsible for the attack on what officials called the center of American democracy. It also comes amid continued efforts by President Trump’s administration to reassess how the January 6 prosecutions are handled and how the events are characterized.
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