By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A jury on Monday reached a verdict in the trial of four members of the far-right Oath Keepers group who are facing seditious conspiracy charges for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by then-President Donald Trump’s supporters, a court official said.
The verdict, expected shortly, marks the end of the second major sedition trial against members of the extremist group, who were among the hundreds who attacked the Capitol in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over Trump, a Republican, in the 2020 presidential election.
Seditious conspiracy is a rarely prosecuted Civil War-era law that prohibits plotting to overthrow or destroy the government and carries up to 20 years in prison.
A jury found Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and another Florida-based leader of the group guilty of seditious conspiracy in a separate trial in November.
Three other members were found not guilty of that charge, but all five defendants in that trial were found guilty of obstructing Congress from certifying the election.
Prosecutors have brought criminal charges against more than 950 people following the assault. Four people died during the chaos, and five police officers died of various causes after the attack.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta split the Oath Keepers seditious conspiracy case into two separate trials due to space limitations and the risks of COVID-19 contagion.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; editing by Andy Sullivan and Jonathan Oatis)
