A federal judge has agreed to dismiss the seditious conspiracy case against Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and seven other members of the extremist group involved in the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack.
U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta issued the ruling, describing it as the final step in legally unwinding penalties stemming from the January 6 riot.
The decision cements President Donald Trump’s effort to dismantle what prosecutors had called the largest federal investigation in United States history.
“This is the last of the prosecutions seeking to hold accountable those responsible for the events of January 6,” Judge Mehta wrote in his order dismissing cases against nine individuals.
Mehta made clear he acted against his own judgment, writing that the court “does strongly disagree” with the Justice Department’s motion to toss the case, but acknowledged that “the court must give way to the primacy of the Executive Branch in making charging decisions.”
The judge also stated plainly that dismissing the case was “not in the public interest,” underscoring the tension between judicial opinion and executive authority in the matter.
Mehta had previously sentenced Rhodes to 18 years in prison and imposed lesser prison terms on other senior Oath Keepers members who were convicted at jury trials.
During sentencing, Mehta had found that Rhodes organized Oath Keeper teams, helped bring members to Washington, D.C., and gave orders to enter the Capitol on January 6.
Several members entered the building in a distinctive stack formation that drew widespread attention during the attack, and they engaged in confrontations with police officers inside the Capitol.
The group had also pre-positioned firearms and ammunition in Virginia as part of a planned quick-reaction force, though that force was never deployed on the day of the attack.
In addition to Rhodes, the dismissed charges cover Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, Roberto Minuta, Joseph Hackett, David Moerschel, and a defendant identified as Vallejo in court filings.
Harrelson and Watkins had each been acquitted of seditious conspiracy but were convicted of other riot-related offenses prior to Tuesday’s dismissal.
An attorney for Rhodes, James Lee Bright, said in a post on X that Mehta’s ruling “personalizes his reasoning,” and argued that Rhodes had been convicted of a “thought crime” that “should never have been charged.”
The Oath Keepers case was the first among January 6 prosecutions to bring seditious conspiracy charges against members of the mob, making Tuesday’s dismissal a significant legal and political milestone.
