In a landmark case, Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right group the Oath Keepers, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison on charges of seditious conspiracy tied to the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.
Judge Amit Mehta, who presided over the case, emphasized that Rhodes’ sentence was a consequence of his actions and not his beliefs.
Prosecutors stated that Rhodes, along with other Oath Keepers, premeditated the attack, using encrypted messages for coordination.
Despite Rhodes’ defense that his group was not violent that day, he was portrayed by the prosecution as a persistent advocate for violent opposition to U.S. government authority.
The sentence serves as the harshest punishment to date for a Jan. 6 defendant.
Click play to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @E_N_McMorris & @aurnonline.
