have. because it led to january 6th and. i think we need to i know i need to be more diligent with looking at the words that are being put out there. because those words become actions, and those actions that to january 6th. but i think we have a victory. i think today, it was needed. and i think it sends a clear message. i think it was a win for democracy. clean explain the split verdict for us. only two of them were convicted of seditious conspiracy, not the other three. yeah, the two leaders of the oath keepers, elmer stewart rhodes, of course, was the head of the oath keepers, and then one of his top lieutenants. kelly mix. when you saw the video footage of some of the violence they were advocating, when you read their signal posts, and their text messages, i think it was easy for the jury to conclude that these two were clearly intent to violently overthrow the government. the other three or more followers, and actually make
let s turn to some of our reporters on this story. former assistant u.s. attorney for the district of columbia now at nbc news and msnbc legal analyst glen kirshner and justice reporter, msnbc news, ryan. start with you. covering the case closely. both of you in the courtroom, actually, for most of this trial. so ryan, how did the verdicts that you saw yesterday and heard line up with what you expected? reporter: you know, i definitely expected stewart rhodes to catch seditious conspiracy verdict. i think actually the split verdict here sort of goes to the credibility of the jury and of the verdict, because we ve seen a lot of attacks on d.c. jurors in a lot of court filings from january 6th defendants saying they re too biased, too left leaning to handle these cases and decide them comparely but they didn t give doj everything they wanted. looked at the evidence, applied facts. evidence, and came up with this mixed verdict. finding two individuals guilty
no, not an easy one to prove at all, and now these defendants they are all facing up to decades in prison and defense attorneys have signaled that they intend to appeal these verdicts and they see hope for their clients in that this was a split verdict. make no mistake, jim, this was a victory for the justice department as it was the first time in a trial related to the capitol attack where a jury found that the violence on january 6th was not a spontaneous disruption, but the product of an organized conspiracy. so let s break down exactly what happened here. rhodes, the leader of the far right oath keepers, the militia and one of his subordinates kelly megs were convicted of seditious conspiracy. it is the most serious charge that has been brought in any of the cases stemming from the capitol a takes. roads, meggs and three other defendants were all convicted of obstructing an official proceeding and several charges. the justice department were alleging that the oath keepers
deputies were found guilty of sedition conspiracy for plotting to keep former president trump in office. the jury found three others not guilty of sedsedition. this matters because this was the first of three seditious conspiracy cases to be heard. it was seen as a major test of the justice department s ability to hold the capitol rioters accountable. paula reed is live for us. the outcome is huge for the justice department, where do we go from here. reporter: this was a big test and after three days of deliberations, the jury returned a split verdict but still a victory for prosecutor because it was the first time in a trial related to the capital attack where the jury found the violence on january 6th was not spontaneous disruption but the product of an organized
which is seditious conspiracy. i can assure you that the government is not viewing this as a split verdict. a split verdict is when serious criminals walk out the door and you have this sinking pit in your stomach that you didn t do your job and you think about all of the other things you could do and should have done so change that result. in this situation, as mentioned, no one is going home, and the most serious participants in this seditious conspiracy have been found guilty. that is going to make the department of justice feel very relieved, gratified by the jury verdict, and i think it s going to strengthen their and stiffen their backbone in terms of their upcoming work, whether it s the d.c.u.s. attorney s office that s now completely charged with the people who were participating on that day in