04:35The lawyers for Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the right-wing 'Oath Keepers', claimed their client was not a 'threat to society', after he was sentenced to 18 years for his role in the January 6 US Capitol Riots, in Washington DC on Thursday.
"We stand firmly behind Stewart Rhodes. We do not think he is a threat to the society. We do not think that at all. He has a right to free speech and none of us has ever tried to tell Stewart what to do, he has always been able to speak freely all this time", said one of his legal team.
The sentence was the longest so far for those implicated, with Rhodes convicted of seditious conspiracy and other crimes, despite remaining outside the area at the time.
"They had used Stewart Rhodes's words against him. It was not what his actions were, but it was his words. I argue that he never went into the Capitol, he never saw it, he never destroyed any property, we argued all those matters during the trial and post-trial," added the lawyer.
The lawyers alleged that Rhodes was 'a scapegoat' for the events.
"There is no way he was the leader or the director of what happened on January 6th. He was just a convenient target. The Oath Keepers were a convenient target. The DOJ looked at them as, here are the scapegoats of what happened on January 6th," added the lawyer.
Judge Amit Mehta said Rhodes remained a risk to public safety and democracy.
"You, sir, present an ongoing threat and peril to this country, to the republic and the very fabric of our democracy," he said. "We all now hold our collective breaths with an election approaching… Will we have another January 6th? That remains to be seen."
Prosecutors had called for a 25-year sentence, calling Rhodes a 'battlefield general'. Kelly Meggs, the leader of the militia's Florida chapter, was jailed for 12 years, while three other members were found not guilty of seditious conspiracy but were convicted other less charges.
On January 6, 2021, supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump disrupted a session of Congress, which was in the process of certifying Joe Biden's election win. Five people were killed in connection with the incident, which led to over 1,000 arrests.
USA: 'We do not think he is a threat' - Lawyers for Oath Keepers leader following 18-year sentence for Capitol riot
The lawyers for Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the right-wing 'Oath Keepers', claimed their client was not a 'threat to society', after he was sentenced to 18 years for his role in the January 6 US Capitol Riots, in Washington DC on Thursday.
"We stand firmly behind Stewart Rhodes. We do not think he is a threat to the society. We do not think that at all. He has a right to free speech and none of us has ever tried to tell Stewart what to do, he has always been able to speak freely all this time", said one of his legal team.
The sentence was the longest so far for those implicated, with Rhodes convicted of seditious conspiracy and other crimes, despite remaining outside the area at the time.
"They had used Stewart Rhodes's words against him. It was not what his actions were, but it was his words. I argue that he never went into the Capitol, he never saw it, he never destroyed any property, we argued all those matters during the trial and post-trial," added the lawyer.
The lawyers alleged that Rhodes was 'a scapegoat' for the events.
"There is no way he was the leader or the director of what happened on January 6th. He was just a convenient target. The Oath Keepers were a convenient target. The DOJ looked at them as, here are the scapegoats of what happened on January 6th," added the lawyer.
Judge Amit Mehta said Rhodes remained a risk to public safety and democracy.
"You, sir, present an ongoing threat and peril to this country, to the republic and the very fabric of our democracy," he said. "We all now hold our collective breaths with an election approaching… Will we have another January 6th? That remains to be seen."
Prosecutors had called for a 25-year sentence, calling Rhodes a 'battlefield general'. Kelly Meggs, the leader of the militia's Florida chapter, was jailed for 12 years, while three other members were found not guilty of seditious conspiracy but were convicted other less charges.
On January 6, 2021, supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump disrupted a session of Congress, which was in the process of certifying Joe Biden's election win. Five people were killed in connection with the incident, which led to over 1,000 arrests.
The lawyers for Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the right-wing 'Oath Keepers', claimed their client was not a 'threat to society', after he was sentenced to 18 years for his role in the January 6 US Capitol Riots, in Washington DC on Thursday.
"We stand firmly behind Stewart Rhodes. We do not think he is a threat to the society. We do not think that at all. He has a right to free speech and none of us has ever tried to tell Stewart what to do, he has always been able to speak freely all this time", said one of his legal team.
The sentence was the longest so far for those implicated, with Rhodes convicted of seditious conspiracy and other crimes, despite remaining outside the area at the time.
"They had used Stewart Rhodes's words against him. It was not what his actions were, but it was his words. I argue that he never went into the Capitol, he never saw it, he never destroyed any property, we argued all those matters during the trial and post-trial," added the lawyer.
The lawyers alleged that Rhodes was 'a scapegoat' for the events.
"There is no way he was the leader or the director of what happened on January 6th. He was just a convenient target. The Oath Keepers were a convenient target. The DOJ looked at them as, here are the scapegoats of what happened on January 6th," added the lawyer.
Judge Amit Mehta said Rhodes remained a risk to public safety and democracy.
"You, sir, present an ongoing threat and peril to this country, to the republic and the very fabric of our democracy," he said. "We all now hold our collective breaths with an election approaching… Will we have another January 6th? That remains to be seen."
Prosecutors had called for a 25-year sentence, calling Rhodes a 'battlefield general'. Kelly Meggs, the leader of the militia's Florida chapter, was jailed for 12 years, while three other members were found not guilty of seditious conspiracy but were convicted other less charges.
On January 6, 2021, supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump disrupted a session of Congress, which was in the process of certifying Joe Biden's election win. Five people were killed in connection with the incident, which led to over 1,000 arrests.