WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. Army veteran was sentenced on Friday to probation instead of prison for his milestone conviction — and his leadership role — in a violent plot by members of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group to keep Donald Trump in the White House after he lost the 2020 presidential election.
Joshua James was the first person charged in the U.S. Capitol riot to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy — the most serious crime arising from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by a mob of Trump supporters.
James cooperated with the Justice Department’s investigation but didn’t testify at any of the trials for other Oath Keepers members, including the anti-government group’s founder and top leader, Stewart Rhodes. James was the ninth and final Oath Keepers defendant to be sentenced after cooperating with prosecutors.
James, 37, of Arab, Alabama, expressed remorse before U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta sentenced him to three years of probation, including six months in a “residential re-entry center” and six months of home detention. James said he knows that his actions put police officers in danger on Jan. 6.
“That’s not who I am,” he said. “I help people in danger.”
In sparing James from a prison sentence, Mehta said he wanted to ensure that the married father of three children could continue trying to “put his life together.”
“Because if he can do that, I think the rest of us can, too,” the judge added.
President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly has vowed to pardon Capitol rioters. At a sentencing on Wednesday for another cooperating Oath Keeper defendant, Mehta said it would be “frightening” if Rhodes is pardoned.
On Friday, the judge reflected on how other judges presiding over Jan. 6 cases have strived “to be fair and to do justice.”
“We haven’t been doing politics here. Not at all,” he said.
The judge described James as a “true American hero” for his military service and praised him for having the courage to admit his guilt and cooperate with the government.
“It was about making amends for your actions and deciding to put your country back where it belonged,” Mehta said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Troy Edwards said James’ sentencing can help ensure that the Jan. 6 attack is “cemented in our long-term national memory.”
“That is part of what we’re doing here today,” the prosecutor added.
James was the first criminal defendant in over 60 years to enter a pretrial agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy, according to his attorneys. The defense lawyers said James provided “pivotal” information about the Oath Keepers in his debriefs with investigators and his grand jury testimony.
A jury convicted Rhodes of seditious conspiracy for a plot to use force to stop the peaceful transfer of power from Trump to President Joe Biden after the 2020 election. In May 2023, Mehta sentenced Rhodes to 18 years in prison.
Prosecutors recommended two years of prison for James, arguing that he deserves credit for his cooperation. They said James helped authorities understand Rhodes’ state of mind around Jan. 6 and how he could inspire his followers to join the plot.
The other cooperating Oath Keepers defendants also avoided prison sentences.
“James stands apart from these other cooperating defendants in part because of his leadership role in the conspiracy and significant impact he had on other individuals who acted at his instruction,” prosecutors wrote.
James was a regional leader for the Oath Keepers in Alabama and was in direct contact with Rhodes before the Jan. 6 riot. James and other Oath Keepers stored firearms in hotels on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., for a “quick reaction force” to possibly use, but they never deployed the guns.
As they approached the Capitol on Jan. 6, James and other Oath Keepers marched in a military-style “stack” formation. James helped lead other group members into the building through the East Rotunda doors, prosecutors said.
Inside the Capitol, James approached a police officer, grabbed his vest and pulled him toward the mob as he yelled, “Get out of my Capitol!” according to prosecutors.
After police pushed James out of the building, he reunited with Rhodes and other Oath Keepers. Two days later, James met Rhodes at a restaurant in Alabama.
“Rhodes expressed gratitude for James’s actions and told James to alter his physical appearance to conceal his identity,” prosecutors wrote.
James was 18 when he enlisted in the Army. He was 19 in 2007 when he was wounded in a car bombing that took down part of a highway bridge in Iraq.
“Over the next two years, his body slowly healed, but his career in the Army came to a disappointingly abrupt end,” his attorneys wrote. “His sense of purpose and self-worth were replaced by feelings of guilt for not finishing his deployment and regret over a military career cut short.”
James, a welder, lost his military benefits after his conviction, costing him thousands of dollars per month in disability retirement payments.
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