Even as special counsel Jack Smith pursued an investigation of former President Donald Trump for seeking to overturn the 2020 election, the Justice Department did not slow its sweeping pursuit of pro-Trump rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan 6, 2021.
As of July, prosecutors have charged nearly 1,100 people in connection with the attack. The Justice Department could ultimately bring indictments against as many as 1,000 more in the months to come.
More than 350 people charged so far stand accused of assaulting police officers, including about 110 who used a deadly or dangerous weapon. Another 310 people have been charged with obstruction of an official proceeding, the go-to count that prosecutors have used to describe how members of the mob disrupted the certification of the election that was taking place inside the Capitol at a joint session of Congress.
More than 100 rioters have gone to trial in US District Court in Washington, starting with Guy Wesley Reffitt, a Texas militia member who was convicted in March 2022 of helping to lead an advance against the police that resulted in the first violent breach of the Capitol.
Most of those who have faced trial have been found guilty of at least one crime or another; only two — a former government contractor from New Mexico and a low-level member of the Oath Keepers militia — have been acquitted of all the charges they faced.
About 560 defendants have been sentenced. Of those, more than 330 have been ordered to serve time in prison.
The most serious and complex trials have involved the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, another far-right organization. The leaders of the groups — Stewart Rhodes and Enrique Tarrio — were both convicted of seditious conspiracy along with some of their lieutenants.
Rhodes, who founded the Oath Keepers in 2009, was sentenced in May to 18 years in prison — the longest sentence given in any Jan. 6 criminal case.
Tarrio is expected to be sentenced this summer.
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels | Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks