(FreedomBeacon.com)- According to American Greatness senior editor Julie Kelly, to coerce January 6 defendants into pleading guilty, the Biden Department of Justice is threatening them with life in prison.
The only people from the January 6 riot at the Capitol to be charged by the Justice Department for seditious conspiracy are members of the group Oath Keepers. Three men have already pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy while nine others have rejected the government’s plea offer.
On May 2, the prosecutor in that case, Kathryn Rakoczy, sent a letter to defense attorneys outlining the possible prison sentences and fines the defendants could face if they go to trial. Rakoczy explained that seditious conspiracy is analogous to “Treason,” warning that if a jury convicted the defendants, the government would request they serve a sentence of life in prison.
Matthew Graves, the US Attorney overseeing the prosecution of the January 6 defendants, gave the nine Oath Keepers until May 6 to accept a plea.
According to Kelly, bending to the demands of Democrat lawmakers and the media, Graves indicted the 11 Oath Keepers on January 12, 2022, on the charge of seditious conspiracy, a twelfth member of the group was indicted last week.
No American has ever been convicted of seditious conspiracy.
None of the eleven defendants is accused of carrying or using a weapon during the three-hour riot, nor is anyone charged with vandalizing the Capitol. The group entered the Capitol through opened doors in full view of the police after Congress had recessed that afternoon.
Rakoczy also threatened that any guilty verdict would include a “terrorism enhancement” that would boost the maximum sentence to 22 years per count.
The three Oath Keepers who pleaded guilty in exchange for lenient sentencing include Joshua James.
James, an Iraq War veteran who nearly died in an explosion in 2007 that killed three others, pleaded guilty in March. According to his wife, prosecutors threatened to cut off his veteran’s benefits.
Audrey James explained in a post on the family’s fundraising site that she and her husband made the difficult choice to take a shorter prison term than risk their future “on a trial that would likely take away many years of his life.”
