CBS News reports:
The Justice Department plans to appeal the 18-year-prison sentence handed down for Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers, in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, as well as those of other Oath Keepers, because the terms were not as long as what prosecutors had sought, according to court papers filed Wednesday.
Although Rhodes received a lengthy sentence for seditious conspiracy and other convictions, the 18-year term was less than the 25 years the Justice Department had asked for in one of the most serious cases to go to trial in the Capitol riot and below the range recommended under federal guidelines.
Defendants routinely appeal their convictions and sentences, but it is more unusual for prosecutors to challenge the length of a prison term imposed by judges who have wide discretion when handing down punishments.
Read the full article. Rhodes’ 18-year sentence is the longest handed down in the over 1000 riot cases so far settled.
! DOJ is appealing the sentences imposed by Judge Mehta against the Oath Keepers convicted of seditious conspiracy or obstruction, including the 18-year term for Stewart Rhodes.
All of the sentences, even Rhodes’, were well below what the sentencing guidelines called for. pic.twitter.com/luVoPJ7fCU
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 12, 2023