A judge on Friday barred Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and seven others from entering Washington, D.C., without permission from the court, a move that comes days after President Donald Trump commuted their prison sentences.
Judge Amit Mehta said the eight right-wing activists, who were each sentenced to yearslong prison stays for their roles in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, must also get permission from him before entering the U.S. Capitol building and the surrounding area of other federal buildings in Washington.
Mehta, an Obama appointee, imposed the location restrictions after Rhodes made a conspicuous return to the Capitol on Wednesday and, according to the Hill, met with Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL). Rhodes was serving out an 18-year prison sentence when he was released this week because of Trump’s commutation.
Others under Mehta’s modified prison release conditions included Kelly Meggs, Roberto Minuta, Edward Vallejo, David Moerschel, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, and Joseph Hackett. Rhodes and five others were convicted of a rare seditious conspiracy charge for their outsize roles in organizing the riot as an answer to Trump’s 2020 election loss.
On his first day in office, Trump commuted the sentences of 14 defendants and pardoned all of the more than 1,200 violent and nonviolent defendants who had been convicted over the riot. He also ordered his Department of Justice to dismiss all pending Jan. 6 cases, and his newly appointed interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., Ed Martin, has been filing those dismissal motions all week.
Rhodes, who helped organize the riot in encrypted chats and urged militia-style fighting at it, has remained remorseless over his actions despite the incident leaving dozens of police officers injured and Capitol property damaged.
“My only regret is that they should have brought rifles. … We should have brought rifles. We could have fixed it right then and there. I’d hang f***ing Pelosi from the lamppost,” he said days after the event.
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William Shipley, a longtime lawyer who has defended some of the rioters who received commutations, questioned the judge’s authority over the defendants, saying he was unsure if they were subjected to a supervised release period after leaving prison.
“Work is currently underway among the attorneys for those 14 — I’m one of them — to address the issue of whether/if the Supervised Release term must still be served,” Shipley wrote on X.