US Capitol riot


Six people affiliated with the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia, were convicted Monday of various charges related to the January 6, 2021, US Capitol insurrection.

Four of the defendants were found guilty on all of the charges they faced. Defendants Sandra Parker, Laura Steele, Connie Meggs and William Isaacs were accused of entering the Capitol during the riot and attempting to make their way to the Senate chamber before being deterred by pepper spray and police officers in the building. 

Two defendants were convicted of a lesser charge of entering and remaining on restricted grounds but acquitted of the most serious charges alleging the group conspired to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s electoral victory. 

The jury remains deadlocked on two counts for those two defendants and will continue to deliberate.Prosecutors said those two defendants – Michael Greene, a military veteran accused of being the Oath Keepers “operation leader” on January 6, and Bennie Parker, the husband of Sandra, did not go into the Capitol itself but were still part of the conspiracy.

Several other members and affiliates of the Oath Keepers have been convicted by juries in Washington, DC, of seditious conspiracy, including the group’s leader, Stewart Rhodes.Though the six defendants in this case are accused of working with other Oath Keepers that were convicted of seditious conspiracy, no one in this case faced that charge.

Instead, the Parkers, Greene, Steele, Meggs and Isaacs were charged with conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding, which is less politically fraught but carries the same maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Last edited by Spunky (3/20/2023 2:17 pm)