4 more Oath Keepers found guilty of seditious conspiracy in connection to Jan. 6 riots

Four members of the Oath Keepers were convicted Monday of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol in the second major trial of far-right extremists accused of plotting to forcibly keep former president Donald Trump in power.

The verdict against Joseph Hackett of Sarasota, Fla., Roberto Minuta of Prosper, Texas, David Moerschel of Punta Gorda, Fla., and Edward Vallejo of Phoenix, Ariz., comes weeks after a different jury convicted the group’s leader, Stewart Rhodes, in the mob’s attack that halted the certification of U.S. President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.

It’s another major victory for the U.S. Justice Department, which is also trying to secure sedition convictions against the former leader of the Proud Boys and four associates. The trial against Enrique Tarrio and his lieutenants opened earlier this month in Washington and is expected to last several weeks.

Seditious conspiracy is a rarely prosecuted Civil War-era law that prohibits plotting to overthrow or destroy the government and carries up to 20 years in prison.

Jurors deliberated for about 12 hours over three days. The judge didn’t immediately set a date for sentencing.

Rhodes and another Florida-based leader of the group were found guilty of seditious conspiracy in a separate trial in November.

Oath Keepers discussed ‘bloody’ civil war, prosecutors say

The Justice Department has brought nearly 1,000 cases connected to Jan. 6 and the tally increases by the week.

In this case, prosecutors told jurors that Oath Keepers leader Rhodes and his band of extremists began shortly after the 2020 election to prepare an armed rebellion to keep Trump in power.

Messages show Rhodes and the Oath Keepers discussing the prospect of a “bloody” civil war and the need to keep Biden out of the White House.

“Our democracy was under attack, but for the defendants it was everything they trained for and a moment to celebrate,” Prosecutor Louis Manzo told jurors in his closing argument.

Prosecutors alleged that the Oath Keepers amassed weapons and stashed them at a Virginia hotel for so-called “quick reaction force” teams that could quickly shuttle guns into Washington to support their plot if they were needed. The weapons were never used.

Oath Keepers were providing security, defence says

Defence attorneys sought to downplay violent messages as mere bluster and said the Oath…