The Justice Department is seeking 25 years in prison for Stewart Rhodes, the founder of Oath Keepers who has been convicted of seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors describe as a violent plot to keep President Biden out of the White House, prosecutors said in court documents released Friday. submitted.

A jury in Washington, D.C. convicted Rhodes in November in one of the most sweeping cases brought in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, when a mob of then-President

Donald

Trump’s supporters attacked police officers, smashed windows and temporarily detained the congressional certificate of Biden’s victory.

Prosecutors described the Oath Keepers’ actions as terrorism, “telling the judge that a harsh sentence is critical to deter future political violence. They wrote that Rhodes believes he has done nothing wrong and remains a threat to American democracy and lives.”

Rhodes used his powers of persuasion and his platform as the leader of the Oath Keepers to radicalize more than 20 other American citizens to violently oppose the authority of the United States government,” prosecutors wrote in the nearly 200-page lawsuit. those who have studied Rhodes and who know him best suggest that such behavior is entirely in character and unlikely to change.

Jurors found that Rhodes, of Granbury, Texas, plotted an armed uprising with members of his far-right extremist group to stop the transfer of presidential power from Trump to Biden. In addition to seditious conspiracy, Rhodes was convicted of obstructing Congressional certification of Biden’s victory. Both charges carry up to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors asked the judge to go beyond standard sentencing guidelines, arguing that the crimes deserve a longer sentence for terrorism because the goal was to influence the government through intimidation or coercion.

Prosecutors wrote that in media interviews, Rhodes portrays himself behind bars as a victim of a politically motivated persecution and continues to invoke the words and actions of the Founding Fathers in not-so-veiled calls for violent resistance to the government.

Rhodes is scheduled to be sentenced

on

May 25. As of Friday night, Rhodes’ lawyers had not yet filed papers detailing how much time they would ask the judge to impose. They have vowed to appeal against his conviction.

Prosecutors are seeking prison terms ranging from 10 to 21 years for eight other Oath Keepers defendants convicted at trials. The Justice Department has demanded 21 years behind bars for Kelly Meggs, the leader of the Florida chapter who was convicted of sedition along with Rhodes.

Meggs’ attorney urged the judge to sentence him to no more than 28 months in court documents filed late Friday, saying his client had not participated in violence or vandalism at the Capitol. Meggs’ attorney called what happened

by

January 6 abhorrent,” but said the day’s events do not reflect Mr Meggs’ true character nor his respect for the law.

“Mr. Meggs undoubtedly accepts responsibility for his actions and has spent every day while detained regretting his involvement with the Oath Keepers and the events of January 6,” his lawyer wrote.

The sentencing recommendations come a day after jurors in another case convicted four leaders of another extremist group, the Proud Boys, including former national president Enrique Tarrio, of seditious conspiracy. The Proud Boys were accused of a separate plot to forcibly keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election.

Rhodes, a Yale Law School graduate and former Army paratrooper, did not enter the Capitol. He included the witness on trial, insisted there was no plan to attack the Capitol, and said the oath-keepers acted alone. Rhodes said the Oath Keepers’ only mission that day was to provide security for Trump ally Roger Stone and other figures at pre-riot events.

Prosecutors built their case around dozens of coded messages and other communications in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6 that showed Rhodes rallying his followers to fight to defend Trump and warning that they might have to riot to defeat Biden if Trump did. did. t act.

Hundreds of people were convicted in the riot, but Rhodes and Meggs were the first January 6 defendants to be convicted of seditious conspiracy at trial. Three other defendants on trial with them were acquitted of seditious conspiracy, but convicted of obstruction of Congress. Another four Oath Keepers were convicted of sedition at a second trial.

These defendants were willing to fight. Not for their country, but against it. In their own words, they were willing to die in guerrilla warfare to achieve their goal, which was the transfer of power after the 2020 presidential election, prosecutors wrote.

Jurors in the Rhodes case saw video of his followers wearing combat gear and fighting their way through the crowd in military-style stacking formation before making their way to the Capitol.

Rhodes spent thousands of dollars on an AR platform rifle, magazines, mounts, sights and other equipment en route to Washington prior to the riot, prosecutors told jurors. Prosecutors said Oath Keepers stowed weapons for rapid response teams. Prosecutors said they were ready to get guns into the city quickly if they were needed. The weapons were never deployed.

The trial revealed new details about Rhodes’ attempts to pressure Trump into fighting to stay in the White House in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6. Shortly after the election, Rhodes wrote in a group chat with Stone, too: stand up and push Trump to FINALLY take decisive action?

Another man testified that after the riot, Rhodes tried to persuade him to relay a message to Trump urging the president not to give up his fight to retain power. The middleman, a man who told jurors he had an indirect way to reach the president, taped his meeting with Rhodes and went to the FBI instead of giving the message to Trump. At that meeting, Rhodes said they should have brought guns on January 6.

____Associated Press reporter Michael Kunzelman in Washington contributed.