What is the definition of seditious conspiracy? What’s the maximum sentence?
A rarely used charge due to its legal complexity, seditious conspiracy, has resulted in a string of courtroom victories for the US Justice Department.
Hundreds of people have been found guilty of involvement in the January 6 assault on the US Capitol Building. Of the more than 1,000 who have been charged for their participation in the pro-Trump riot they face a range of charges from misdemeanors and felonies to conspiracy.
On Thursday, a federal judge handed down the first sentence for the seditious conspiracy conviction against Stewart Rhodes. It was also the first to include an enhanced penalty for terrorism. The Oath Keepers founder was given 18 years. His deputy, Kelly Meggs, also convicted in November of seditious conspiracy, received a 12-year prison sentence.
Seditious conspiracy “is among the most serious crimes an individual American can commit,” said Judge Amit Mehta, who handed down the sentences.
This week and next six more Oath Keepers convicted on the same charge will be sentenced. Enrique Tarrio, former leader of the Proud Boys, and three other members of the far-right extremist militia who were similarly convicted in May will face sentencing sometime in August.
What is the definition of seditious conspiracy? What’s the maximum sentence?
The crime of seditious conspiracy was put on the books after the Civil War. It was used to arrest Confederates that might keep fighting against the US government. It is a federal crime found in Section 2384 of Title 18 of the United States code and it goes as follows:
“If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.”
While the maximum sentence for seditious conspiracy is 20 years, sentencing guidelines reduce what prosecutors would normally ask for. In Rhodes case that would have been between just over 11 years to 14 years. However, with the terrorism enhancement the sentencing guidelines jump to between almost 22 years and over 27 years. In the end prosecutors had asked for 25 years for the founder of the Oath Keepers and 21 years for Meggs.
Seditious conspiracy, a charge rarely brought
Prior to these most recent examples, the charge of seditious conspiracy has rarely been brought due in part to its legal complexity. As well, prosecutors have found it difficult to demonstrate to juries that not only was force used but that defendants conspired to do so.
The last attempt was in 2010 against members of the Hutaree militia for an alleged Michigan plot to incite an uprising against the government. The judge acquitted the defendants of the seditious conspiracy charges on the basis that prosecutors relied too much on hateful diatribes, which is free speech protected by the First Amendment. She said that prosecutors failed to prove that seven accused had an actual plan for acting on their talk of going to war against the government.
The last convictions prior to those for the members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys was in 1995. Egyptian cleric Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman and nine followers were found guilty of participating in a conspiracy to blow up an FBI building, the United Nations along with two tunnels and a bridge linking New Jersey and New York.