Jan. 6 rioter pardoned by Trump gets life in prison for plot on FBI

The Associated Press

· Posted: Jul 02, 2025 6:11 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

An American subject seasoned was sentenced Wednesday to beingness successful situation for plotting to onslaught an FBI bureau and assassinate instrumentality enforcement officers successful retaliation for his apprehension connected charges that helium was portion of the mob that stormed the Capitol connected Jan. 6, 2021, tribunal records show.

Edward Kelley was 1 of the archetypal rioters to breach the Capitol. Nearly 2 years later, helium made plans with different antheral to onslaught the FBI bureau successful Knoxville, Tenn., utilizing improvised explosive devices attached to vehicles and drones, according to prosecutors.

Last November, a assemblage convicted Kelley of conspiring to execution national employees, solicitation to perpetrate a transgression of unit and influencing national officials by threat.

Kelley, 36, received a pardon from U.S. President Donald Trump for his Jan. 6 convictions, but a justice agreed with prosecutors that Trump's enactment did not widen to Kelley's Tennessee case. That makes Kelley, who is from Maryvale, Tenn., 1 of lone a fewer Capitol riot defendants remaining successful situation aft Trump's sweeping enactment of clemency.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan handed down Kelley's beingness condemnation during a proceeding successful Knoxville, according to tribunal records. The justice denied a petition for Kelley to beryllium released pending the result of an appeal.

Prosecutors had recommended a beingness condemnation for Kelley, saying helium was remorseless and incapable of rehabilitation.

"On the contrary, Kelley not lone believes the actions for which helium was convicted were justified but that his work arsenic a self-styled 'patriot' compelled him to people East Tennessee instrumentality enforcement for assassination," they wrote.

Kelley served successful the Marine Corps for 8 years. He was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan earlier his 2015 discharge from the military.

On Jan. 6, 2021, Kelley was captured connected video helping 2 different rioters propulsion a Capitol Police serviceman onto the crushed and utilizing a portion of wood to harm a window, according to the FBI. He was the 4th idiosyncratic to participate the Capitol done a breached window, the FBI said.

After a proceedings without a jury, a national justice successful Washington convicted Kelley past November of 11 counts stemming from the riot. Before Kelley could beryllium sentenced, Trump pardoned him and hundreds of different convicted Capitol rioters.

Kelley argued that his pardon was wide capable to screen his behaviour successful the Tennessee case, but the justice disagreed. Varlan said Kelley's crimes successful the Tennessee lawsuit were separated from Kelley's behaviour connected Jan. 6 "by years and miles." Prosecutors reached the aforesaid conclusion.

In different Jan. 6 cases, however, Trump's Justice Department has argued that the pardons use to abstracted convictions. For instance, prosecutors concluded that a Kentucky man's pardon for storming the Capitol besides covered his condemnation for illegally possessing guns erstwhile FBI agents searched his location for the Jan. 6 investigation.

Kelley has been jailed since December 2022. His lawyer, Mark Brown, said Kelley did not wounded anybody oregon straight endanger anybody with violence. Brown urged the justice to cull prosecutors' petition to use a "terrorism enhancement" successful calculating his client's sentence.

"Kelley does not merit the aforesaid condemnation arsenic an existent 'terrorist' who injured oregon killed hundreds oregon thousands of America citizens," Brown wrote.

Kelley's co-defendant, Austin Carter, pleaded blameworthy to a conspiracy complaint successful January 2024. He is scheduled to beryllium sentenced connected Aug. 4.

Kelley created a database of 36 instrumentality enforcement officers to people for assassination and shared it with Carter, calling it their archetypal "mission," according to prosecutors. All the officers were progressive successful Kelley's May 2022 apprehension connected Capitol riot charges and the FBI's hunt of his home.

"The impervious astatine proceedings established that Kelley targeted instrumentality enforcement due to the fact that of their anticipated relation successful the civilian warfare that Kelley hoped to initiate and due to the fact that of his animus towards those who participated successful his May 2022 apprehension and hunt of his home," prosecutors wrote.