Capitol Riot Oath Keepers

Stewart Rhodes

Stewart Rhodes, founder of Oath Keepers

The Washington Post

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FILE PHOTO: Prosecutors say Oath Keepers militia members conspired in U.S. Capitol siege

Reuters

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Oathkeeper charged in Capitol attack

Office of the U.S. Attorney for Washington

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FILE PHOTO: Stewart Rhodes of the Oath Keepers poses during an interview session in Eureka

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Thomas Caldwell

Stewart Rhodes,Amit Mehta

UGCR

Capitol Riot Oath Keepers 

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A federal judge on Friday found Kellye SoRelle — an attorney for the Oath Keepers and girlfriend of the<b> </b>right-wing group’s leader, Stewart Rhodes — mentally incompetent to stand trial as<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/01/oathkeepers-attorney-sorelle-arrested-jan6/" target=_blank> scheduled next month</a> on charges related to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/january-6-capitol-riot/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2" target=_blank>Jan. 6</a>, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta of D.C. postponed SoRelle’s trial indefinitely, finding — based on reports by defense and government medical experts — that she was suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering her unable to understand the proceedings against her or to assist properly in her defense.

Mehta ordered the defendant to begin treatment near Junction, Tex., where she lives, while both sides searched for an inpatient hospital facility where she could be held for months to determine whether competence could be restored. The reports and the nature of SoRelle’s condition were not made public.

“We’ll continue to toll time [to trial] until we have an answer on competency,” Mehta said at a brief hearing Friday afternoon.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn Rakoczy of D.C. and Assistant Federal Defender Horatio Aldredge of Austin cautioned that it could take months to find a suitable health facility. Defendants taken into custody by the Federal Bureau of Prisons for competence assessments often spend longer behind bars awaiting transport, bed space and review than they might serve for minor offenses if found guilty and sentenced. Both sides said they would see whether they could find a facility in Texas near SoRelle, who lives about two hours west of Austin and San Antonio.

In September, SoRelle, 43, in<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/01/oathkeepers-attorney-sorelle-arrested-jan6/" target=_blank> became one of the last members of the Oath Keepers to be charged</a>. Rhodes and 14 other members and affiliates of the extremist group were convicted in trials in the fall and winter, including six found guilty of seditious conspiracy, or attempting to oppose federal authority by force, including the transfer of presidential power between <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/donald-trump/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Donald Trump</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/candidates/joe-biden-2024/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Joe Biden</a> in January 2021.

SoRelle emerged as an intriguing figure in Rhodes’s trial as well as in last summer’s House Jan. 6 committee hearings. Rhodes said he had designated her as his<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/24/oath-keepers-sedition-trial-preview/" target=_blank> liaison to the pro-Trump, GOP and “Stop the Steal”</a> campaigns, and she became a<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/05/24/tarrio-rhodes-video/" target=_blank> point of contact with Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio</a>. Rhodes also ordered followers to destroy evidence through SoRelle, according to court evidence.

Oath Keepers founder <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/29/rhodes-oathkeepers-sedition-verdict-jan6/" target=_blank>Stewart Rhodes was found guilty of seditious conspiracy</a> in the Jan. 6, 2021, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/10/03/oath-keepers-trial-stewart-rhodes-faq/" target=_blank>attack on the Capitol</a>.

He is accused of guiding a months-long effort to unleash politically motivated <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/stewart-rhodes-arrested-jan-6/2022/01/13/558ecc42-7414-11ec-8b0a-bcfab800c430_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_2" target=_blank>violence to prevent the swearing-in of President Biden</a>.

Where do things stand now? <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/10/03/oath-keepers-trial-defendants-seditious-conspiracy/" target=_blank>Some Oath Keepers have been convicted</a> and others still face trial.

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/oathkeepers-stewart-rhodes-leader/2022/01/13/2e17e292-7492-11ec-bc13-18891499c514_story.html" target=_blank>Rhodes is the most high-profile person charged</a> in the investigation so far.

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/18/oath-keepers-jan6-trial-closing/" target=_blank>The Oath Keepers trial</a> is the highest-profile prosecution to arise from the 2021 Capitol chaos.

The trial is an important step in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/07/26/trump-justice-investigation-january-6/" target=_blank>the wider probe</a>, analysts say.

In a July 2022 hearing, the House Jan. 6 committee played a snippet of SoRelle’s deposition with investigators earlier that year. She said that Trump political confidant Roger Stone, Infowars founder and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and Stop the Steal coordinator Ali Alexander became “the center point” for Trump’s post-2020 election protests, leading up to the Jan. 6 riot that forced the evacuation of Congress as it met to certify the presidential election result.

SoRelle, a volunteer for Lawyers for Trump during the 2020 election, was charged with and has pleaded not guilty to four offenses: conspiracy, obstruction of a federal proceeding, tampering with documents and misdemeanor trespassing in a restricted building or grounds.

On the day SoRelle was arrested, Trump announced that he would issue full pardons and a government apology to Capitol riot defendants if he ran for reelection in 2024 and won. By coincidence, Trump similarly spoke out in defense of Jan. 6 defendants in January at an Arizona rally days after Rhodes was indicted, attacking what he called the Justice Department’s “appalling persecution of political prisoners.”

Finalist, Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, National Emmy Award nominee, Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award for Public Service, Ursula and Gilbert Farfel Prize for Excellence in Investigative Reporting, American Immigration Lawyers Association Media Leadership Award,

Harvard University, B.A. in English

Spencer S. Hsu is an investigative reporter, two-time Pulitzer finalist and national Emmy Award nominee. Hsu has covered homeland security, immigration, Virginia politics and Congress.

Spencer Hsu

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Oath Keepers attorney SoRelle found incompetent for trial in Jan. 6 case

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