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Oath Keepers attorney is found incompetent to stand trial in Jan. 6 case
A volunteer for Lawyers for Trump, Kellye SoRelle became Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes’s girlfriend and a key post-2020 election contact with ‘Stop the Steal’ groups
By Spencer S. Hsu
A federal judge on Friday found Kellye SoRelle — an attorney for the Oath Keepers and girlfriend of the right-wing group’s leader, Stewart Rhodes — mentally incompetent to stand trial as scheduled next month on charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta of D.C. postponed SoRelle’s trial indefinitely, finding — based on reports by defense and government medical experts — that she was suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering her unable to understand the proceedings against her or to assist properly in her defense.
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was found guilty of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
He is accused of guiding a months-long effort to unleash politically motivated violence to prevent the swearing-in of President Biden.
Where do things stand now? Some Oath Keepers have been convicted and others still face trial.
Rhodes is the most high-profile person charged in the investigation so far.
The Oath Keepers trial is the highest-profile prosecution to arise from the 2021 Capitol chaos.
The trial is an important step in the wider probe, analysts say.
Mehta ordered the defendant to begin treatment near Junction, Tex., where she lives, while both sides searched for an inpatient hospital facility where she could be held for months to determine whether competence could be restored. The reports and the nature of SoRelle’s condition were not made public.
“We’ll continue to toll time [to trial] until we have an answer on competency,” Mehta said at a brief hearing Friday afternoon.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn Rakoczy of D.C. and Assistant Federal Defender Horatio Aldredge of Austin cautioned that it could take months to find a suitable health facility. Defendants taken into custody by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons for competence assessments often spend longer behind bars awaiting transport, bed space and review than they might serve for minor offenses if found guilty and sentenced. Both sides said they would see whether they could find a facility in Texas near SoRelle, who lives about two hours west of Austin and San Antonio.
more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/06/16/sorelle-incompetent-trial-oathkeepers-jan6/
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