Federal judge dismisses DOJ's case against Oath Keepers members linked to Capitol riot
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U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta granted the Justice Department’s request to throw out seditious conspiracy convictions of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and eight other militia members involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
A federal judge in Washington dismissed the Justice Department’s effort to uphold convictions of the Oath Keepers militia members who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta vacated the seditious-conspiracy convictions of founder Stewart Rhodes and eight other defendants.
All nine individuals had already been released from prison after President Donald Trump issued pardons and commutations for most of the 1,600 people charged in connection with the attack.
"Today’s epilogue diminishes the gravity of that day, denigrates the work of the prosecutors and law enforcement officers who secured these convictions, and excuses criminal acts that caused a centuries-long pillar of our democracy – the peaceful transfer of presidential power – to buckle," Mehta wrote.
"The court cannot write a different ending."