Justice Department asks for 25-year prison sentence for convicted Oath Keepers leader

Prosecutors asked a federal judge Friday to sentence Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes to 25 years in prison – the government’s first sentencing request for a person convicted of seditious conspiracy related to the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot.

The Justice Department’s request provides insight – for the first time in more than a decade – into how prosecutors believe a conviction for seditious conspiracy should be punished.

“These defendants attempted to silence millions of Americans who had placed their vote for a different candidate, to ignore the variety of legal and judicial mechanisms that lawfully scrutinized the electoral process leading up to and on January 6, and to shatter the democratic system of governance enshrined in our laws and in our Constitution,” prosecutors wrote in the filing. “And when they did not get what they wanted, they acted by together attacking the very people and place at the very time when those laws were in action.”

They added: “This Court has previously explained that it ‘has been one of the great tragedies in the history of this country’ to see ‘ordinary, hardworking Americans’ turn into criminals on January 6 and ‘suffer[] the consequences.’ These defendants are in part responsible for that national tragedy; they played significant roles in spreading doubt about the presidential election and turning others against the government, and they are incomparable to the actions of single actors on January 6.”

Rhodes is scheduled to be sentenced on May 25.

The filing requests individual sentences for all nine Oath Keepers members and associates convicted by a jury – six of whom were convicted of seditious conspiracy. The lowest sentence prosecutors asked for among the group was 10 years in prison for Oath Keeper David Moerschel, who prosecutors said was not a leader within the conspiracy.

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