WASHINGTON – A retired Navy intelligence officer who was cleared of probably the most critical costs in his U.S. Capitol assault trial alongside Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes averted further time behind bars when he was sentenced on Friday.
Thomas Caldwell was acquitted by a jury in Washington’s federal court docket of seditious conspiracy and two different conspiracy offenses in one of the critical circumstances introduced by the Justice Division within the Jan. 6, 2021, assault. And considered one of two counts he was discovered responsible on at trial was dismissed in light of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year.
Prosecutors had alleged at trial that Caldwell helped coordinate “fast response drive” groups prosecutors stated the Oath Keepers stationed outdoors the capital metropolis to get weapons into the arms of extremists in the event that they had been wanted. The weapons had been by no means deployed, and legal professionals for the Oath Keepers stated they had been solely there for defensive functions in case of assaults from left-wing activists.
However Caldwell, who did not enter the Capitol, took the witness stand and performed down messages he despatched main as much as Jan. 6, together with one floating the concept about getting a ship to ferry “heavy weapons” throughout the Potomac River. Caldwell stated he was by no means critical about it, calling it “artistic writing.”
His lawyer famous at trial that Caldwell was a disabled veteran who typically makes use of a cane to stroll, telling jurors he “couldn’t storm his means out of a paper bag.” Legal professional David Fischer argued that there was no plot to assault the Capitol, saying his shopper wasn’t even planning to go to the constructing till Trump’s speech on the Ellipse urging his supporters to “fight like hell.”
Prosecutors had sought 4 years in jail for Caldwell on his remaining obstruction of justice offense conviction for deleting messages after the riot. Prosecutors described him in court docket papers as “an avid and keen participant in an unprecedented crime.”
Caldwell’s legal professional instructed U.S. District Choose Amit Mehta in court docket paperwork that his shopper’s acquittal on the conspiracy costs and “army service that resulted in a lifetime of debilitating accidents” name for a sentence of time served. He spent greater than 50 days behind bars after his 2021 arrest.
“Mr. Caldwell was cleared of the 4 most critical counts and sentenced to no further jail time by a extremely revered federal choose,” Fischer stated in an electronic mail. “Clearly, he must be thought-about for a pardon by President Trump.”
Trump has steered he’ll pardon at the least a big portion of the than 1,500 people who have been charged with federal crimes within the largest investigation in Justice Division historical past.
Rhodes, the Oath Keepers founder, is amongst 14 defendants who had been convicted of seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors stated had been violent plots to keep Trump in power. Rhodes is serving an 18-year jail sentence.
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