Seventeen members of the pro-Trump militia group the Oath Keepers could face up to 20 years in prison each after a federal judge denied a legal challenge against the heaviest charge that has been brought against Capitol riot defendants, upholding the felony count that federal prosecutors filed against them in connection with the attack.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled Monday night that prosecutors will be allowed to move forward with the obstruction of an official proceeding charge against the 17 defendants affiliated with the right-wing paramilitary group, The Hill reported Tuesday.
“The count is among the most serious that have been brought by the Justice Department in response to the attack. If a defendant is found guilty of obstructing an official proceeding, it carries a possible prison sentence of 20 years,” the report noted.
In the 49-page ruling, Mehta rejected the defendants’ various arguments, including that the obstruction charge is unconstitutionally vague and that the prosecutors’ application of it in the context of the riot imperils First Amendment protections for demonstrators.
“Their alleged conduct was no mere political protest or trespass. If proven, their conduct crossed the line to criminal conduct: they ‘corruptly’ conspired to, and did, ‘obstruct, influence, and impede an official proceeding,’ ” Mehta wrote, quoting the statute’s text.
Mehta is the third judge so far to uphold the obstruction of an official proceeding charge in challenges brought by Capitol riot defendants, The Hill reported.
