Judge grants DoJ bid to dismiss January 6 cases against rightwing Oath Keepers

A US judge on Tuesday granted the justice department’s bid to dismiss cases against ‌members of the rightwing Oath Keepers militia who took part in the January 6 2021 attack ​on the US Capitol, according to a ​court filing.

The ruling from Washington-based US district judge Amit Mehta tosses out convictions ​of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and other ​members of the group who were convicted of seditious conspiracy for plotting to stop the transfer of ​power after Donald Trump lost the ​2020 election.

All nine of the defendants had already been freed ‌from ⁠prison as part of Trump’s sweeping move to pardon nearly all 1,600 people charged in the attack and commute the prison ​sentences of the ​remaining defendants.

“Today’s ⁠epilogue diminishes the gravity of that day, denigrates the work of ​the prosecutors and law enforcement officers ​who ⁠secured these convictions, and excuses criminal acts that caused a centuries-long pillar of our democracy – the ⁠peaceful ​transfer of presidential power – to ​buckle,” Mehta wrote.

“The court cannot write a different ending.”