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| Photo Credit: AP. |
(AP) --The high-profile seditious conspiracy trial for the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group will begin this month after a judge on Wednesday rejected a last-minute bid by Stewart Rhodes to replace his lawyers and delay his Capitol riot case.
Rhodes said
in court papers this week there had been a “breakdown” in communication between
him and his two lawyers, who he claimed weren’t defending him forcefully
enough. Rhodes’ new lawyer argued that the Oath Keepers founder has not been
given enough time to adequately prepare for trial and urged the judge to delay
his trial at least 90 days.
But the
obviously irritated judge called the claim that Rhodes is being denied a fair
trial “simply false.”
U.S.
District Judge Amit Mehta said Rhodes’ suggestion that his lawyers are not
providing effective counsel appeared to be “complete and utter nonsense” and
questioned why concerns about his lawyers were surfacing for the first time
just weeks before trial.
“The notion that you are going to create the
kind of havoc that you will — and havoc is the only appropriate word I can
think of — by moving Mr. Rhodes’ trial, not going to happen,” Mehta told Edward
Tarpley, whom Rhodes wanted as his new lawyer.
Mehta said
Tarpley is free to join Rhodes’ two other lawyers — James Lee Bright and
Phillip Linder — but Mehta was not going to remove them from the case.
Tarpley told
The Associated Press after the hearing that he’s disappointed but respects the
court’s decision and remains willing to help Rhodes’ defense team at trial.
“He never
went into the Capitol ... he never told anybody to go into the Capitol,”
Tarpley said. There’s a lot of things in his favor. And, you know, I just think
that he’s been unfairly accused and wrongly prosecuted in this case.”
The case
against Rhodes and four co-defendants starting Sept. 27 in federal court will
be the most serious case to go to trial so far in the riot of Jan. 6, 2021,
that delayed the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 president victory over
Donald Trump.
It will also
be a major test for the Department of Justice, which has brought rarely used
and difficult-to-prove charges of seditious conspiracy against Oath Keepers
members and those of another far-right extremist group, the Proud Boys.
Authorities
say Rhodes was the ringleader of the Oath Keepers’ plot to violently stop the
transfer of power. In the run-up to Jan. 6, authorities say the Oath Keepers
recruited members, purchased weapons and set up a “quick reaction force” with
guns on standby outside the capital with the goal of keeping President Donald
Trump in office.
On Jan. 6,
prosecutors say the Oath Keepers formed two teams, or “stacks,” that entered
the Capitol. Rhodes is not accused of going inside the building, but was seen
gathered outside the Capitol with several members after they did, authorities
say.
Rhodes has
said there was no plan to storm the Capitol and that the members who went
inside the building went rogue. His lawyers have argued he believed Trump would
invoke the Insurrection Act and call upon the Oath Keepers to support his bid
to stay in power. When Trump did not do that, Rhodes took no action, his
lawyers have said.
Three
members of the Oath Keepers have already pleaded guilty to seditious
conspiracy, are cooperating with investigators and could testify against Rhodes
at trial.
Rhodes
claimed that his lawyers, Bright and Linder, were not answering his calls or
visiting him enough and failed to file legal papers they promised to. The
defense also argued its case would be hurt by the arrest this month of the the
Oath Keepers’ general counsel — Kellye SoRelle — whom the defense was expecting
to call to the stand.
Bright
denied not answering calls from Rhodes or failing to discuss the defense
strategy with him. He called some of the new legal papers Rhodes wants to file
“frivolous.”
Associated
Press journalist Mike Pesoli contributed to this report from Washington.
For full
coverage of the Capitol riot, go to https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege