Oath Keepers Defense Attorney Ed Tarpley Responds to January 6th Trial Conviction
A federal judge has convicted the Oath Keepers founder for their role in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
They are the first to stand trial for seditious conspiracy in more than a decade.
Out of the five Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes and Kelly Meggs were found guilty of seditious conspiracy.
Oath Keepers Defense Attorney Ed Tarpley says, “The jury did not agree that the government had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, so we were very pleased with that. Certainly, we were very disappointed with the counts that they found a guilty verdict on, so we will be looking to appeal those in the future.”
Ed Tarpley says they presented a solid case to prove the oath keepers’ intent was not to storm the Capitol.
“One of the things that came up in our trial and we’ve seen in other trials is the whole issue about the words that people spoke on January 6th and leading up to January 6th, so the question is, whether or not, political speech is being criminalized in this country.”
Rhodes claimed he never gave orders for members to go inside the Capitol and was only there to provide security.
Tarpley says, “He wanted to defend what he had to say, and he wanted to defend his actions and he had a chance to do that in a court of law.”
He says that the inflammatory recordings of the defendants were nothing more than “locker room talk.”
“Political speech is very important and what people say about the government and what people say about political issues should be protected.”
Tarpley says there was no evidence there was a plan to stop the transfer of presidential power.
“And that goes to what the Justice Department is doing. That’s a policy decision that they’ve made to essentially go after people’s speech and that’s a very troubling development in our country.”
This is the first jury in a Washington, D.C. case that has returned a not guilty verdict on a January 6th trial.
Ed Tarpley and his defense will have 14 days to file a motion for a new trial. Sentencing will follow 3 months from now.
