Four Oath Keepers are found guilty of seditious conspiracy over January 6 riot trends now
A jury has found four members of the far-right Oath Keepers group guilty of seditious conspiracy for their involvement in the January 6 riots in 2021.
The four members - David Moerschel, 44, Joseph Hackett, 51, Roberto Minuta, 37, and Edward Vallejo, 63 - were also found guilty of obstructing Congress among other felony charges.
Seditious conspiracy is a rarely prosecuted Civil War-era law against plotting to overthrow the government. It carries up to 20 years in prison.
The judge did not set a date for sentencing and denied a bid for them to be imprisoned in the mean time. The men will remain under house arrest.
It comes two months after group leader Stewart Rhodes and Florida chapter leader Kelly Meggs, became the first in decades to be convicted of the antiquated offence. They are expected to be sentenced in April.
A jury has found four members of the far-right Oath Keepers group guilty of seditious conspiracy for their involvement in the January 6 riots in 2021
Edward Vallejo was not found guilty for entering the Capitol, but instead for manning guns in a hotel in Virginia so they could be brought to Washington as necessary
On the day of the attack, Moerschel, Hackett and Minuta all entered the Capitol wearing tactical gear.
Prosecutors said Minuta led a group of several Oath Keepers into the Capitol and clashed violently with police while screaming it was 'their building'.
Vallejo, on the other hand, was accused of staying in a hotel in Northern Virginia where the Oath Keepers were storing guns that could be moved into Washington if needed.
The Oath Keepers are a far-right militia group that brand themselves 'Guardians of the Republic'.
Its members were among the hundreds that attacked the Capitol in 2021 to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden's victory over Trump after the 2020 election.
The group was founded by Stewart Rhodes, a Yale Law School-educated former Army paratrooper and disbarred attorney. He was also found guilty of seditious conspiracy for his own role in the Capitol riots during a separate trial in November.
Although Rhodes did not breach the building that day, he was said to have been in a restricted area on Capitol grounds from where he coordinated his militiamen, who were seen marching in formation.
Roberto Minuta , 37, of Prosper, Texas, was affiliated with longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone
Joseph Hackett , 51, of Sarasota, Florida, is a chiropractor and led a local chapter of the Oath Keepers, coordinating training, planning and travel with Rhodes
David Moerschel , 44, of Punta Gorda, Florida, was seen in FBI images wheeling a long gun case in to a hotel in Arlington, Virginia
Stewart Rhodes is a founder of the Oath Keepers and a Yale Law School-educated former Army paratrooper and disbarred attorney
