Justice Department challenges prison sentences for Oath Keepers convicted on January 6 charges

Federal prosecutors appear dissatisfied with the punishments handed down for treason-related charges

The US Department of Justice appears to be seeking longer prison sentences for eight members of a far-right anti-government militia group convicted of treason-related charges in connection with the January 6 attack.

Federal prosecutors have filed brief documents in the cases of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and other members of the group whose prison sentences were set below what the government asked a judge to impose.

In documents leading up to his sentencing in May, prosecutors wanted Rhodes jailed for 25 years, arguing in court filings that “the need to deter others is especially strong” because he “engaged in acts that were intended to influence the government through intimidation or coercion.”

“In other words, terrorism,” prosecutors wrote.

Rhodes was ultimately sentenced to 18 years in prison on 25 May.

Kelly Meggs received a sentence of 12 years. Prosecutors sought 21.

“Our notice merely preserves our ability to appeal,” Patricia Hartman, spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, said in a statement to CNN, which first reported the appeal.

The filing did not provide a reasoning or legal arguments for the notice, but the appeal will keep alive a case that has tested the scope of the rare charge of seditious conspiracy – what US District Judge Amit Mehta warned Rhodes is “among the most serious crimes an American can commit” when he handed down his 18-year sentence.

“You, sir, present an ongoing threat and a peril to this country and its democracy and the very fabric of this country,” the judge said during the sentencing hearing. “You are smart, you are compelling, and you are charismatic. Frankly, that is what makes you dangerous.”

The sentences for Rhodes and Meggs were the first ever to find that a defendant involved with the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January, 2021 was “tantamount to terrorism” and warranted an upward departure under sentencing guidelines, according to the Justice Department.

After the sentences were handed down, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said the sentences “reflect the grave threat the actions of these defendants posed to our democratic institutions.”

More than a dozen people have been charged with seditious conspiracy in connection with the Capitol riots.