Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Oath Keepers leader loses bid to delay Jan. 6 riot trial
The high-profile seditious conspiracy trial for the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group will begin this month after a judge on Wednesday rejected a last-minute bid by Stewart Rhodes to replace his lawyers and delay his Capitol riot case.
Rhodes said in court papers last week there had been a “breakdown” in communication between him and his two lawyers, who he claimed weren’t defending him forcefully enough. Rhodes’ new lawyer argued that the Oath Keepers founder has not been given enough time to adequately prepare for trial and urged the judge to delay his trial at least 90 days.
But the obviously irritated judge called the claim that Rhodes is being denied a fair trial “simply false.”
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said Rhodes’ suggestion that his lawyers are not providing effective counsel appeared to be “complete and utter nonsense” and questioned why concerns about his lawyers were surfacing for the first time just weeks before trial.
“The notion that you are going to create the kind of havoc that you will — and havoc is the only appropriate word I can think of — by moving Mr.
Rhodes’ trial, not going to happen,” Mehta told Edward Tarpley, whom Rhodes wanted as his new lawyer.
Mehta said Tarpley is free to join Rhodes’ two other lawyers — James Lee Bright and Phillip Linder — but Mehta was not going to remove them from the case.
Tarpley told The Associated Press after the hearing that he’s disappointed but respects the court’s decision and remains willing to help Rhodes’ defense team at trial.
“He never went into the Capitol. … He never told anybody to go into the Capitol,” Tarpley said. There’s a lot of things in his favor. And, you know, I just think that he’s been unfairly accused and wrongly prosecuted in this case.”
The case against Rhodes and four co-defendants starting Sept. 27 in federal court will be the most serious case to go to trial so far in the riot of Jan. 6, 2021.