Judge rules Oath Keepers leader to be transferred to DC jail

A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that the Oath Keepers leader charged with seditious conspiracy over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol must be transferred to a Washington, D.C., jail while awaiting trial.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta denied a motion from Stewart Rhodes, founder of the far-right militia group, asking that he be allowed to remain incarcerated in Texas so that he can be closer to his attorneys.

“Although the court understands the reasons for Defendant Rhodes’s request, the court will not involve itself in decisions about location of detention better left to the U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Prisons,” Mehta, who was appointed by former President Obama, said in a brief ruling.

“The court notes that it is not unusual for locally detained January 6th defendants to have counsel who are not in the Washington, D.C. area. They face similar challenges to those Mr. Rhodes identifies were he to be transferred to Washington, D.C. The court will not grant Mr. Rhodes more favorable treatment than those similarly-situated defendants.”

A federal magistrate judge in Texas last month denied bond for Rhodes and ordered that he remain in jail until trial.

The militia leader’s attorneys are asking Mehta to reconsider that order. They had moved to keep Rhodes in the Texas corrections facility while his detention status was under review.

“If Mr. Rhodes were to be transferred to a Washington, D.C. area jail facility, Counsel would have a much more difficult time being ready for the July 11, 2022 trial date,” Rhodes’s lawyers wrote in a court filing late last month. “In addition, it would be a great deal more expensive for Counsel to have to travel to and from Washington, D.C. multiple times over the next six months while preparing for trial.”

Rhodes faces a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted of the sedition charge in what is the most ambitious case federal prosecutors have brought in the wake of the Capitol riot.

Federal Magistrate Judge Kimberly Priest Johnson ruled last month that if Rhodes were to be released on bail, he would pose a flight risk and a potential danger to the community.

“Defendant’s authoritative role in the conspiracy, access to substantial weaponry, and ability to finance any future insurrection, combined with his continued advocacy for violence against the federal government, gives rise to a credible threat that Defendant’s release might endanger others by fostering the planning and execution of additional violent events,” Johnson wrote in her decision.