Capitol rioter gets life in prison for plotting to assassinate FBI agents investigating him
Knoxville, Tennessee - A January 6 Capitol rioter has been hit with a severe prison sentence for plotting to murder FBI special agents who were investigating his role in the riots.
On Wednesday, US District Judge Thomas A. Varlan sentenced Edward Kelley to life in prison.
The sentencing comes after Kelley was convicted last November on three felony charges – conspiracy to murder federal employees, solicitation to commit a crime of violence, and influencing a federal official by threat.
According to a press release from the Department of Justice (DOJ), court documents and evidence revealed that Kelley developed a "kill list" of multiple FBI and local law enforcement officials, which he shared with his co-conspirator, Austin Carter.
The two allegedly planned to use "car bombs and incendiary devices appended to drones" to attack the Knoxville FBI office and "strategized about assassinating FBI employees in their homes and in public places."
NBC News reports that DOJ prosecutors pushed for a life sentence, arguing that Kelley was "remorseless."
"On the contrary, Kelley not only believes the actions for which he was convicted were justified but that his duty as a self-styled 'patriot' compelled him to target East Tennessee law enforcement for assassination," prosecutors wrote in a memo.
Court documents also revealed that Kelley had acquired massive amounts of guns, ammunition, and explosives. Additionally, child pornography was also discovered on his electronic devices.
Edward Kelley begs President Donald Trump to save him
Upon winning re-election earlier this year for his second term, President Donald Trump immediately signed an executive order pardoning over 1,500 January 6 rioters, despite many being violent offenders who had stormed the Capitol in 2021 over Trump's false claims of a rigged election.
Kelley's attorneys argued throughout the trial that the pardon should apply to his murder plots, but the DOJ argued otherwise, with which a federal judge later agreed.
On Tuesday, Kelley shot a video from jail begging for Trump to "undue this travesty of justice" against him, alleging that "they want my blood at any cost of jurisprudance and due process."
Cover photo: OLIVIER DOULIERY / AFP