Military veteran gets a life sentence for plotting an FBI attack after his Jan. 6 arrest
Edward Kelley was one of the first rioters to breach the Capitol. Nearly two years later, Kelley made plans with another man to attack the FBI office in Knoxville, Tennessee, using improvised explosive devices attached to vehicles and drones, according to prosecutors.
Last November, a jury convicted Kelley of conspiring to murder federal employees, solicitation to commit a crime of violence and influencing federal officials by threat.
Kelley, 36, received a pardon from President Donald Trump for his Jan. 6 convictions, but a judge agreed with prosecutors that Trump's action did not extend to Kelley's Tennessee case. That makes Kelley, who is from Maryvale, Tennessee, one of only a few Capitol riot defendants remaining in prison after the Republican president's sweeping act of clemency.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan handed down Kelley's life sentence during a hearing in Knoxville, according to court records. The judge denied a request for Kelley to be released pending the outcome of an appeal.
Prosecutors had recommended a life sentence for Kelley, saying he was remorseless and incapable of rehabilitation.
'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,' they wrote.
Kelley served in the Marine Corps for eight years. He was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan before his 2015 discharge from the military.
On Jan. 6, 2021, Kelley was captured on video helping two other rioters throw a Capitol Police officer onto the ground and using a piece of wood to damage a window, according to the FBI. He was the fourth person to enter the Capitol through a broken window, the FBI said.
After a trial without a jury, a federal judge in Washington convicted Kelley last November of 11 counts stemming from the riot. Before Kelley could be sentenced, Trump pardoned him and hundreds of other convicted Capitol rioters.
Kelley argued that his pardon was broad enough to cover his conduct in the Tennessee case, but the judge disagreed. Varlan said Kelley's crimes in the Tennessee case were separated from Kelley's conduct on Jan. 6 'by years and miles.' Prosecutors reached the same conclusion.
In other Jan. 6 cases, however, Trump's Justice Department has argued that the pardons apply to separate convictions. For instance, prosecutors concluded that a Kentucky man's pardon for storming the Capitol also covered his conviction for illegally possessing guns when FBI agents searched his home for the Jan. 6 investigation.
Kelley has been jailed since December 2022. His lawyer, Mark Brown, said Kelley did not hurt anybody or directly threaten anybody with violence. Brown urged the judge to reject prosecutors' request to apply a 'terrorism enhancement' in calculating his client's sentence.
'Kelley does not deserve the same sentence as an actual 'terrorist' who injured or killed hundreds or thousands of America citizens,' Brown wrote.
Kelley's co-defendant, Austin Carter, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in January 2024. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 4.
Kelley created a list of 36 law-enforcement officers to target for assassination and shared it with Carter, calling it their first 'mission,' according to prosecutors. All the officers were involved in Kelley's May 2022 arrest on Capitol riot charges and the FBI's search of his home.
'The proof at trial established that Kelley targeted law enforcement because of their anticipated role in the civil war that Kelley hoped to initiate and because of his animus towards those who participated in his May 2022 arrest and search of his home,' prosecutors wrote.
Kelley, Carter and a third man used an encrypted messaging platform to discuss plans, prosecutors said. Carter testified that he met with Kelley to conduct military-style training in November 2022.
'Carter's testimony was unequivocal — he had no doubts that, had he and Kelley not been arrested, the law enforcement personnel included on Kelley's list would have been murdered,' prosecutors wrote.
Kelley's attorney said the case involved 'little to no planning.'
'Discussions did not lead to action," Brown wrote. "And while people may not like what Mr. Kelley had to say, he stands behind his position that he has a First Amendment right to free speech.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Here's how Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene described support for Trump's ‘big beautiful bill'
As President Donald Trump's 'big beautiful bill' returns to the U.S. House of Representatives after passing by a single vote in the U.S. Senate, one prominent Republican supporter of the president called it a 's***show.' Speaking with Trump ally Steve Bannon on his podcast 'War Room' on Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., does not have the votes to pass Trump's budget reconciliation bill in the House on Wednesday. 'I can't imagine they have the votes,' Greene told Bannon. 'There's no way that Johnson has the votes in the House for this. We're supposed to be back Wednesday morning to start voting at 9 a.m. I think that is not realistic. I just don't see how that's possible. So this is, I think it's far from over.' She called the situation 'dire,' and added that 'it's hard for us to get to an agreement on anything.' 'It's a s***show,' Greene said. 'And I'm sorry for saying that. I know we're not supposed to say that on the air, but that's really what it is.' Republican lawmakers are working to meet Trump's July 4 deadline in passing the bill before he signs it into law. Three Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the Senate version of the bill, which included cuts to federal spending on Medicaid and Affordable Care Act marketplaces by about $1 trillion over a decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office on Monday. This could leave 12 million more people without health insurance by 2034. With a 50-50 split, Vice President JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the bill before it was handed back to the House. Before the Senate vote, Greene didn't back the bill due to a provision that would have placed a moratorium on states regulating AI. In a post on X on Tuesday, she called the provision 'a gift to Big Tech and a disaster for American workers and states' rights.' After voting for the House version last month, Greene previously admitted that she missed the section that 'strips states of the right to make laws or regulate AI for 10 years.' Had she seen it, she said she would have voted no. In a 99-1 vote, senators removed the provision from the bill, which Greene subsequently called a 'huge win for federalism,' The Hill reported. The House Rules Committee is leading the debate on Wednesday on a rule to advance the legislation and consider final passage of the bill, ABC News reported. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told ABC News that all 212 Democrats in the House will vote no on the bill. 'And all we need are four House Republicans to join us in defense of their constituents, who will suffer mightily from this bill,' Jeffries said. All told, the Senate bill includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, according to the latest CBO analysis, making permanent Trump's 2017 rates, which would expire at the end of the year if Congress fails to act, while adding the new ones he campaigned on, including no taxes on tips. The Senate package would roll back billions of dollars in green energy tax credits, which Democrats warn will wipe out wind and solar investments nationwide. It would impose $1.2 trillion in cuts, largely to Medicaid and food stamps, by imposing work requirements on able-bodied people, including some parents and older Americans, making sign-up eligibility more stringent and changing federal reimbursements to states. Additionally, the bill would provide a $350 billion infusion for border and national security, including for deportations, some of it paid for with new fees charged to immigrants. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Mass. senators blast Trump settlement with Paramount: 'Bribery in plain sight' Trump's antisemitism probe mostly relies on Harvard's own report, Harvard claims Trump threatens arrest of NYC mayoral candidate during visit to 'Alligator Alcatraz' Mass. has an on-time(ish) state budget: 3 big things to know about the $61B plan Group behind MCAS ballot question broke campaign finance law, state says Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Person struck, killed on I-435 in Kansas City
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City traffic investigators shut down the northbound lanes of Interstate 435 between 87th Street and Gregory for three hours after a person walking or standing in a lane was struck and killed early Thursday morning, police said. Kansas City police said this happened at about 1:15 a.m. when the driver of a black Ford Focus struck the person as the car was headed north. The victim was declared dead at the scene. Family stunned after desecration of loved one's grave at Kansas City cemetery The driver was sent to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The interstate has since reopened and the crash is under investigation. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Supreme Court to consider reviving Mississippi evangelist's challenge to protest ordinance
The Supreme Court said Thursday it will consider reviving an evangelist's challenge to a Mississippi city's protest ordinance. Gabriel Olivier, a self-described Christian called to evangelize, asked the justices to let his lawsuit challenging an ordinance barring him from demonstrating outside a Brandon, Miss., amphitheater move forward. The city, in its opposition to Olivier's petition, said the ordinance was passed after Olivier, with a group, called passersby 'whores,' 'Jezebels,' 'sissies' and other derogatory names over a loudspeaker at the amphitheater's busiest intersection. The ordinance redirects protests and demonstrations to a nearby designated area for three hours before an event and one hour after and bans the use of loudspeakers that are 'clearly audible' more than 100 feet from the protest area, the city says. Olivier claimed in his petition to the court that the ordinance 'forbids him' from sharing his faith with fellow citizens outside the amphitheater. He filed suit after being charged with and pleading no contest to violating the ordinance, after he left the protest area because it was 'too isolated for attendees to hear his message.' He paid a $304 fine. A federal judge threw out his case, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit affirmed, citing Supreme Court precedent that people convicted of a crime can't file civil lawsuits against police or other officials. The full appeals court declined to rehear the case by a one-vote margin, over several dissenting opinions. 'It sends an odd message to citizens who care about defending their constitutional rights,' Judge James Ho wrote in one dissent. 'On the one hand, we tell citizens that you can't sue if you're not injured. But on the other hand, we tell them that you can't sue if you are injured.' Olivier asked the justices to clarify whether the high court's 1994 decision in Heck v. Humphrey bars lawsuits like his. A decision is expected by next summer. 'Every American has First Amendment rights to free speech; and every American has a right to their day in court,' said Kelly Shackelford, president, CEO and chief counsel for First Liberty Institute, which is representing Olivier. 'Both of these rights were violated for Gabe Olivier. The Supreme Court will now decide whether those rights will be protected for all Americans.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
