Oath Keepers' 4 members found guilty of Capitol attack
World
Moerschel, Hackett and Minuta entered Capitol on attack day while wearing tactical gear, prosecutors
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four additional members of the far-right Oath Keepers were found guilty of seditious conspiracy for their involvement in the Donald Trump supporters attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 in a significant victory for federal prosecutors.
The second significant sedition trial against the extremist group s members comes to a close. These defendants were among the hundreds who attacked the Capitol in an unsuccessful attempt to stop Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden s victory over Republican Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
Members of the Oath Keeper David Moerschel, Joseph Hackett, Roberto Minuta and Edward Vallejo were convicted guilty of seditious conspiracy by the 12-member jury. Additionally, all four were found guilty of conspiring with others to attack the Capitol and preventing Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election.
The Civil War-era legislation that forbids conspiring to subvert or destroy government has a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail but is rarely enforced today. In a second trial in November, a jury found Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and another organisation leader from Florida guilty of seditious conspiracy.
All five defendants in that trial were found guilty of preventing Congress from certifying elections, despite the fact that three other members of the jury were found not guilty of that allegation.
Prosecutors said that Rhodes vehement speech and incendiary remarks about civil war and bloody conflict served as an inspiration for other members to carry out his plan in both cases. Moerschel, Hackett and Minuta all entered the Capitol on the day of the attack while wearing tactical gear.
Minuta led a number of Oath Keepers into the Capitol and engaged in a violent altercation with officers while yelling that it was their building, according to the prosecution.
