Florida Oath Keepers Leader Guilty Of Seditious Conspiracy In Jan. 6 Attack

WASHINGTON, DC — The leader of the Florida chapter of the far-right militia group Oath Keepers was found guilty of seditious conspiracy Tuesday for his role in the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Kelly Meggs, 53, of Dunnellon, was one of five co-defendants on trial for plotting to forcibly stop the transfer of presidential power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden following the 2020 election. The 12-person jury also found Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes guilty of seditious conspiracy.

The verdict followed an eight-week trial and three days of deliberations. No sentencing date was set.

Meggs and his co-defendants were the first people arrested in the Jan. 6 attack to stand trial for seditious conspiracy — a rarely used Civil War-era charge that can be difficult to prove.

The last successful seditious conspiracy trial was in 1995 when Egyptian cleric Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman and nine followers were convicted in a plot to blow up the United Nations, an FBI building, and two tunnels and a bridge linking New York and New Jersey.

The charge of seditious conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Also on trial were Jessica Watkins, of Woodstock, Ohio; Kenneth Harrelson, of Titusville, Florida; and Thomas Caldwell, of Berryville, Virginia. All three were acquitted of the seditious conspiracy charge.

Meggs also was found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging duties and tampering with documents or proceedings.

Meggs was among hundreds of pro-Trump supporters that entered the Capitol building on Jan. 6 and helped to orchestrate the violence that disrupted a joint session of Congress gathered to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.

According to the indictment against Rhodes, the Oath Keepers allegedly formed two teams, or "stacks," that entered the Capitol. The first "stack" split up inside the building to go after the House and Senate separately. The second "stack" confronted officers inside the Capitol Rotunda, the indictment said.

Outside Washington, the indictment said the Oath Keepers had stationed two "quick reaction forces" that had guns "in support of their plot to stop the lawful transfer of power."

Prosecutors spent weeks showing jurors messages, recordings, and surveillance video they say shows Rhodes and his band of antigovernment extremists were prepared to take up arms to overturn Biden's election victory over Trump.

Rhodes, Caldwell, and Watkins all took the witness stand during the trial and sought to downplay their actions, portraying the riot as a spontaneous outpouring of election-fueled rage instead of the result of a preconceived plot.

Rhodes told jurors there was no plan for the Oath Keepers to attack the Capitol and said his followers who went inside acted "stupid."

Meanwhile, lead prosecutor Jeffrey Nestler asked jurors to see the defendants, most of whom are military veterans, as traitors, CNN reported.

"They claimed to be Oath Keepers; they did not live up to that creed," Nestler said. "They claimed to wrap themselves in the Constitution, but they trampled it instead. They claimed to be saving the republic, but they fractured it instead."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.