the history in the south and other parts of the country as well has been shifting the formations of different groups, smaller groups with different goals. they seem to come together for a time, but they can be easily dissuaded from staying together. these are not brave or courageous people. they are very fearful. a successful prosecution can discourage them, can deter them from continuing with their efforts. to glenn pointed out that the sentence that stewart rhodes faces here could be decades. the seditious conspiracy statute carries a penalty of 20 years in prison. that s the statutory maximum. we know that he ll be sentenced other a vehicle called the sentencing guidelines which typically calls for a lighter sentence than the statutory maximum. but in this case i would expect those guideline ranges to be very high because of the seriousness of the crimes and some of the factors in play including the use of force and violence here.
a presidential election, so the result today gives doj a little bit of momentum, a little bit of wind in its sails because it is clear that stewart rhodes is not the most culpable participant in the events on january 6th. there are people who are more accountable, people who had greater intent to interfere with the transfer of powers and now doj can go about that business having won this case. does jack smith look at this set of verdicts and guilty verdicts from a jury what does wind in the sails mean to jack smith? how does that manifest? so it s not strictly speaking a legal consideration. this is something you think about as a prosecutor. you know, what will a jury do? where will a jury convict based on my evidence? in this sort of a situation, the
the room. i think we re talking about momentarily here. remember, it s going to take them a little while to get through the number of charges here. it s five defendants. they ll go through several of them. rhodes is guilty. stewart rhodes is guilty of seditious conspiracy is the verdict we just came in with the first one. so they re going through them now. that s a good sign, obviously, for the government. i think the other charges are the ones where there s a little more possibility. i think the rhodes one, i can say this confident because it s come in, i think the rhodes one was the one that that was going to be one the government would succeed on. i do think there was some mystery as to potential for reasonable doubt on some of these other charges in terms of seditious conspiracy. so we have to see whether or not the doj gets a clean sweep here. first seditious conspiracy charge, guilty for stewart rhodes is certainly a huge win for the government here. ryan reilly, we know so muc
held accountable for trying to violently overthrow the government or to use violence to stop the execution of the laws of the united states. there s a real atmospheric value in a guilty verdict of a seditious conspiracy charge. the last time the federal government tried it was back in 2010-2012 in michigan. those charges didn t even make it to the jury. so this is going to have some really important ripple effects. glenn, to your point, i believe ryan has more. ryan. reporter: that s right. so one of the headlines out of this, across the board they got guilty verdicts for the charge of obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting for all five defendants. it was a mixed verdict when it came to seditious conspiracy. two have been found guilty of seditious conspiracy. that s stewart rhodes as well as kelly meggs, the head of the
the insurrectionists, people in and around the capitol on january 6th, and the government has reprald. joining us now, someone who has been in the courtroom for every bit of this. former u.s. attorney and msnbc legal analyst glenn kirschner. your reaction to this guilty verdict for stewart rhodes. nicolle, i felt a sense of relief when i heard my friend ryan we spent weeks and weeks in the courtroom, when he announced that the jury has contradicted stewart rhodes of the lead charge, seditious conspiracy. that s important for so many reasons. one, it carries with it up to 20 years in prison. let s face it. you can only confine a person for but one lifetime. i m sure the jury is in the process of announcing additional charges on the remaining charges against rhodes and then they ll move on to his co-defendants. it s not only important because elmer stewart rhodes has been