by Misty Severi
The Justice Department filed paperwork Tuesday to dismiss seditious conspiracy convictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keeper leaders related to the January 6 riot in 2021.
The department asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to vacate the convictions, including of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, according to the Associated Press.
President Donald Trump has already commuted the sentences of over 1,500 Proud Boys and Oath Keeper members, including some of its leaders, but the motion goes further to erase the convictions.
“This proclamation ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation,” Trump’s executive order said.
Prosecutors wrote in a court filing, “The government’s motion to vacate in this case is consistent with its practice of moving the Supreme Court to vacate convictions in cases where the government has decided in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of a criminal case is in the interests of justice — motions that the Supreme Court routinely grants.”
The dismissal requests include convictions of Proud Boys members Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola and Oath Keepers Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson and Jessica Watkins.
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Misty Severi is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
Background Photo “January 6 Riot” by Tyler Merbler. CC BY 2.0.
