WASHINGTON — Oath Keepers extremist group founder Stewart Rhodes was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison for orchestrating a weekslong plot that culminated in his followers attacking the U.S. Capitol in a bid to keep President Joe Biden out of the White House after winning the 2020 election.
Rhodes, 58, is the first person convicted of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack to receive his punishment, and his sentence is the longest handed down so far in the hundreds of Capitol riot cases.
It's another milestone for the Justice Department's sprawling Jan. 6 investigation, which led to seditious conspiracy convictions against the top leaders of two far-right extremist groups authorities say came to Washington prepared to fight to keep President Donald Trump in power at all costs.
“The Justice Department will continue to do everything in our power to hold accountable those criminally responsible for the January 6th attack on our democracy,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
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In a first for a Jan. 6 case, the judge agreed with the Justice Department that Rhodes' actions should be punished as "terrorism," which increases the recommended sentence under federal guidelines. That could foreshadow lengthy sentences down the road for other far-right extremists, including former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, also convicted of the rarely used charge.
Before announcing Rhodes' sentence, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta described Rhodes as a continued threat to the United States and democracy. The judge expressed fear that what happened Jan. 6 could be repeated, saying Americans will "now hold our collective breaths every time an election is approaching."
"You are smart, you are charismatic and compelling and frankly that's what makes you dangerous," the judge told Rhodes. "The moment you are released, whenever that may be, you will be ready to take up arms against your government."
Rhodes did not use his chance to address the judge to express remorse or appeal for leniency, but instead criticized prosecutors and the Biden administration and tried to play down his actions on Jan. 6.
"I'm a political prisoner and like President Trump my only crime is opposing those who are destroying our country," said Rhodes, who appeared in Washington's federal court wearing orange jail clothes.
Mehta fired back that Rhodes was not prosecuted for his political beliefs but for actions the judge described as an "offense against the people of the country."
"You are not a political prisoner, Mr. Rhodes," the judge said.
Another Oath Keeper convicted of seditious conspiracy alongside Rhodes — Florida chapter leader Kelly Meggs — was sentenced later Thursday to 12 years behind bars.
Meggs said he was sorry he was involved in the riot that left a "black eye on the country," but maintained he never planned to go into the Capitol.
The judge found Meggs doesn't present an ongoing threat to the country the way Rhodes does, but told him "violence cannot be resorted to just because you disagree with who got elected."
Other Oath Keepers are expected to be sentenced Friday and next week.
A Washington, D.C., jury found Rhodes guilty of leading a plot to forcibly disrupt the transfer of presidential power. Prosecutors alleged Rhodes and his followers recruited members, amassed weapons and set up "quick reaction force" teams at a Virginia hotel that could ferry guns into the nation's capital if they were needed to support their plot. The weapons were never deployed.
It was one of the most consequential Capitol riot cases brought by the government, which sought to prove the attack by right-wing extremists such as the Oath Keepers was not a spur-of-the-moment protest but the culmination of weeks of plotting to overturn Biden's victory.
Rhodes' January 2022 arrest was the culmination of a decadeslong path of extremism that included armed standoffs with federal authorities at Nevada's Bundy Ranch. After founding the Oath Keepers in 2009, the Yale Law School graduate built it into one of the largest far-right, anti-government militia groups in the U.S., though it appears to have weakened in the wake of the Oath Keepers' arrests.
The judge agreed to prosecutors' request for a so-called "terrorism enhancement" under the argument that the Oath Keepers sought to influence the government through "intimidation or coercion." Judges in less serious Jan. 6 cases previously rejected such requests.
Prosecutors sought 25 years for Rhodes, arguing a lengthy sentence was necessary to deter future political violence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn Rakoczy pointed to interviews and speeches Rhodes gave from jail repeating the lie that the 2020 election was stolen and saying it would be again in 2024. Just days ago, Rhodes called for "regime change," the prosecutor said.
People "across the political spectrum" want to believe that Jan. 6 was an "outlier," Rakoczy said. "Not defendant Rhodes."
Rhodes, of Granbury, Texas, plans to appeal.
His sentence may signal the punishment prosecutors will seek for Tarrio and other Proud Boys leaders convicted of seditious conspiracy. They will be sentenced in August and September.
Before Thursday, the longest sentence in the more than 1,000 Capitol riot cases was 14 years for a man with a long criminal record who attacked police officers with pepper spray and a chair as he stormed the Capitol. Just over 500 of the defendants have been sentenced.
