A Washington, D.C., jury on Monday convicted four people affiliated with the Oath Keepers of conspiring to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power on Jan. 6, 2021, capping a more than monthlong trial that highlighted the far-right militia group's role in the attack. The trial was the third to feature the Oath Keepers and allegations that the group plotted to keep former President Trump in power forcibly, reports the Wall Street Journal. In a previous trial, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and another top member of the group were convicted in November of seditious conspiracy and other charges related to the Capitol assault. Another jury in January found four Oath Keepers guilty of seditious conspiracy—the most serious charge the Justice Department has brought in the more than 1,000 prosecutions stemming from the Jan. 6 attack. Of six defendants currently on trial, four—Sandra Parker, Laura Steele, William Isaacs, and Connie Meggs—were found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.
They face the prospect of years in prison but weren’t jailed while awaiting trial and will remain free until sentencing. The jury remained deadlocked Monday on whether another defendant, Bennie Parker, is guilty of the conspiracy charge. The jury was set to continue deliberating on that charge on Tuesday. Parker was convicted of entering and remaining in a restricted area, a misdemeanor offense. The sixth defendant in the case, Michael Greene, was acquitted on the conspiracy charge. Like Parker, Greene was found guilty of the misdemeanor charge of entering and remaining in a restricted area. The jury continued to deliberate on one further felony count against Greene. The jury verdict on Monday came as members of another far-right group, the Proud Boys, are on trial in the same courthouse, just blocks from the Capitol, on seditious-conspiracy charges tied to their actions on or around Jan. 6, 2021. In the latest trial involving Oath Keepers and their associates, the six defendants faced a combined total of more than 30 lesser charges, including conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and civil disorder. Connie Meggs is the wife of Oath Keepers member Kelly Meggs, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy in November alongside Rhodes. In that first trial against members of the Oath Keepers, three others were acquitted of that charge but found guilty of other charges related to the Capitol attack.
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