“Yes, the evidence in this case is going to show that he certainly did.” “Did Kenny bring firearms, or a gun case with a firearm to a Virginia hotel?” Geyer asked, before answering his own question. 6.įor Geyer’s part, he did not dispute the overwhelming evidence that his client did bring weapons to the hotel. Prosecutors also showed Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes purchased thousands of dollars worth of firearms and components before Jan. Surveillance footage showed members of the group pushing what appeared to be gun cases on a dolly. In making their case, the government noted that the Oath Keepers gathered a so-called “quick reaction force” (QRF) in a Comfort Inn in Alexandria, Va., where they stashed weapons. Paraphrasing the statute, Woodward asked the jury of Meggs: “Did he reach an agreement, a conspiracy to stop the lawful transfer of power by opposing the lawful transfer of government, forcefully?” That point is key to the top charge against the defendants: seditious conspiracy, a rarely charged statute punishing attempts to overthrow the government or the execution of its laws by force. “He didn’t know what an electoral college was.” “He didn’t know there was a House of Representatives or a Senate,” Geyer said. If Woodward portrayed Meggs as opinionated about national events, Harrelson’s attorney Brad Geyer painted his client as “apolitical” - and even ignorant about the machinations of the federal government. Woodward said that national media coverage of the unrest caused the ranks and activity of the Oath Keepers to swell in Florida - and the group surfaced in Louisville, Ky., for the protests over the death of Breonna Taylor. “They too were watching what was happening in the summer of 2020,” Woodward said, referring to the Oath Keepers. A pandemic plagued us,” Woodward said, setting the scene.Īfter months of physical isolation wrought by COVID-19, a resurgent Black Lives Matter movement brought people out of their quarantines into the streets to protest the deaths of Black men and women at the hands of police. For Woodward, Meggs was a passionate man whose organization had been animated by the national turmoil in the summer before the last presidential election. After the government rested on Wednesday, Meggs and Harrelson went in sharply different directions in their defense attorney’s characterizations of the case. No plan to block the certification of the election,” claimed Woodward, in an opening statement that he deferred in early October.Īlong with Meggs, Oath Keepers member Kenneth Harrelson put off his opening statement until the government finished its case. “There was no plan: No plan to go into the building. 6th to provide security assistance, not to storm the U.S. That detail, as asserted by attorney Stanley Woodward, was meant to established what he described to jurors as an “alternate theory” of the case: that client Kelly Meggs went to Washington on Jan. 6th in Washington, D.C., an attorney said as the defense kicked off in the seditious conspiracy case. (Photo via DOJ)įormer President Donald Trump’s associate Roger Stone personally invited the Florida chapter leader of the Oath Keepers to attend the rally at the Ellipse in on Jan. Oath Keepers members Kelly Meggs (left) and Ken Harrison (center) are seen in a photograph entered into evidence during a seditious conspiracy trial.
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