“I believe this country is incredibly divided,” he said at the sentencing hearing in Washington, DC. Rhodes claimed that the Oath Keepers group, unlike groups like the Proud Boys, was not present at the Capitol building on January 6, 2021 for violence.
Columbia District Court Judge Amit Mehta sentenced Rhodes to 18 years in prison for provocative conspiracy and other charges related to the attack on the Capitol.
Before announcing the sentence, Mehta scolded Rhodes, saying he was “an ongoing threat and danger to this country and its democracy.”
Rhodes, the leader of the extreme right-wing group, became the defendant who received the longest sentence in the January 6 trials and was the first to have his sentence increased within the scope of terrorism.
Prosecutors had requested 25 years in prison for Rhodes, 58, arguing that the defendant’s crimes merited a longer prison sentence under federal anti-terrorism laws.
On October 4, 2022, due process was initiated against members of the Oath Keepers on charges of “conspiracy to incite riot” in a congressional raid.