WASHINGTON: The US Justice Department asked a federal judge on Friday to sentence Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes to 25 years in prison for his conviction on seditious conspiracy and other charges over the 2021 attack on the US Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump.

The Justice Department is also seeking a sentence of 21 years for another Oath Keepers leader, Kelly Meggs, who was also found guilty in November of seditious conspiracy by a Washington, DC, jury.

Rhodes and Meggs are among 10 members of far-right groups found guilty of seditious conspiracy — a plot to oppose the government with force — for their roles in the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, which was an attempt to overturn Democratic President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win.

If fully imposed, the recommended sentences would be the longest so far for anyone convicted in connection with the Capitol riot. Prosecutors said the defendants “played a central and damning role” in the attack and should be sentenced more severely than other rioters because their conduct was comparable to domestic terrorism.

Earlier on Friday, Peter Schwartz, a Pennsylvania man with a lengthy criminal history, was sentenced to more than 14 years in prison for storming the Capitol, the longest prison term handed down so far.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2023