DOJ Petitions Court To Toss Convictions Of Unpardoned Jan. 6 Defendants

Authored by Janice Hisle via The Epoch Times,

The Justice Department is petitioning an appeals court to throw out the convictions of unpardoned defendants who were charged in connection with the U.S. Capitol breach on Jan. 6, 2021.

“The United States has determined … that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice,” read a motion filed April 14 in the case of Elmer Stewart Rhodes III, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, and Jessica Watkins.

All four defendants belonged to the Oath Keepers, a group that says its members are mostly former military, police, and medics who are dedicated to upholding Constitutional rights. Rhodes, the group’s founder, had been one of the most high-profile Jan. 6 defendants; he was sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other charges.

In their motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, federal prosecutors said they would file separate motions-to-vacate in “similar” Jan. 6 cases.

Those cases involve four other Oath Keepers—Roberto Minuta, Edward Vallejo, David Moerschel, and Joseph Hackett—along with Proud Boys members Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola.

The Proud Boys group has said it is open to men who are “gay or straight,” and of all races and religions who support Western values that created the modern world.

After being sworn in as the 47th president in 2025, President Donald Trump granted full pardons to about 1,500 people who faced Jan. 6 charges.

However, he stopped short of pardoning 14 defendants who were Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.

He instead commuted their sentences, leaving their convictions still standing.

Cases involving 12 of those defendants are part of the motion that U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro signed on April 14.

The remaining two defendants who had not received pardons include Oath Keeper associate Thomas Caldwell, who received a delayed presidential pardon in March 2025. The other is former Proud Boy Jeremy Bertino, who admitted guilt and served as a prosecution witness against other Proud Boys.

If the Washington appeals court vacates the convictions as requested, prosecutors then would move to dismiss the cases “with prejudice,” Pirro wrote.

That specification would permanently bar prosecutors from refiling the charges.

Since 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court has “recognized that appellate courts have authority” to take the action Pirro has requested, the filing said.

Some members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys did receive pardons, including former Proud Boys national chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio. He had been convicted of seditious conspiracy and other charges that brought a 22-year sentence—the longest meted out to any Jan. 6 defendant.

Last year, Tarrio, Biggs, Rehl, Nordean, and Pezzola filed a $100 million civil lawsuit against the federal government, alleging prosecutors violated their constitutional rights.

Nicholas Smith, an attorney who represents Nordean, expressed gratitude to the Justice Department for its “wise decision” in seeking dismissal of the convictions.

“We don’t want a precedent that says that any physical confrontation between protesters and law enforcement means a crime akin to treason, such as seditious conspiracy,” Smith said.

However, former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who suffered a heart attack after a rioter shocked him with a stun gun on Jan. 6, spoke out against the Justice Department’s motion to throw out the convictions.

“I would remind Americans that these were traitors to this country,” Fanone said. “They planned, incited, and carried out an insurrection.”

In a post on X, John Strand, a Jan. 6 defendant and conservative activist, said the government’s move constituted “exoneration” for defendants who were “entrapped and crushed by an evil, weaponized government.”