TWO OATH KEEPERS TO REMAIN IN CUSTODY
The founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group remained in jail after his first court appearance on Friday, a day after his arrest on charges that he plotted with others to attack the U.S. Capitol to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
The seditious conspiracy charges against Stewart Rhodes and 10 other Oath Keepers members or associates are the first to be levied in connection with the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. They’re also the first to be brought by the Justice Department in over a decade.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Kimberly Priest Johnson ordered Rhodes, 56, of Granbury, Texas, to be held in custody until a detention hearing Thursday in the Dallas suburb of Plano.
Rhodes appeared in court wearing heavy boots, blue jeans, a faded black Carhartt T-shirt and a blue medical mask. He walked into the courtroom shackled at the wrists and ankles.
After the hearing, Rhodes’ lawyers said he entered a not guilty plea, plans to fight the charges against him and should be released. Defense attorneys Phillip Linder and James Lee Bright said Rhodes has no criminal history and no
passport and is not a flight risk.
Bright and Linder said Rhodes has been living in Texas for a year and a half but they could not say what brought him to the state. They said he had no family present at the Friday hearing.
An Arizona man who was charged in the same indictment as Rhodes and other Oath Keepers members also made his first court appearance on Friday. U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Fine ordered Edward Vallejo, 63, of Phoenix, to remain jailed until a detention hearing next Thursday.
Rhodes and Vallejo were arrested Thursday. The nine others charged in the seditious conspiracy indictment already had been indicted on charges related to the Capitol siege.
Earlier Friday, the top leader of another far-right extremist group with members charged in the Capitol riot was released from jail in
Washington, D.C. Proud Boys chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio served a fivemonth jail sentence in a case that wasn’t directly related to the Capitol riot.
The indictment charging Rhodes and other Oath Keepers with seditious conspiracy says they discussed trying to overturn the election results and preparing for a siege by purchasing weapons and setting up battle plans. On Jan. 6, several members wearing camouflaged combat attire shouldered their way through the crowd and into the Capitol in a military-style stack formation, authorities say.
Rhodes did not enter the Capitol building on Jan. 6 but is accused of helping put the violence into motion.
Vallejo is accused of coordinating what federal authorities say were “quick reaction force” teams that the Oath Keepers stationed outside of Washington on standby with weapons.