Stewart Rhodes was reprimanded in court on Wednesday by the federal judge presiding over the seditious conspiracy case against him for attempting to postpone the trial that is scheduled to begin in three weeks.
In a motion submitted on Tuesday afternoon to the federal court in the District, Rhodes claimed that “a complete, or nearly complete breakdown of communication” prevented him from working with his current legal team and that he would need at least three months with a new attorney to file more than a dozen motions.
The charges Rhodes made regarding the case and his own attorneys were deemed “incorrect and rather puzzling” by U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta. He rejected the majority of Rhodes’s suggested demands during a hearing that lasted almost two hours as being unnecessary, illegal, or redundant.
Since being arrested, Mr. Rhodes has never been quiet, according to Mehta. Never, not once, have I heard Mr. Rhodes complain about his lack of communication with his attorneys or his dissatisfaction with their work.
He stated that Rhodes might increase the size of his legal team if he so desired, but that the trial would take place in three weeks and that his original attorneys, James Lee Bright and Phillip Linder, would continue to represent him.
Rhodes is charged with planning to attack the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an effort to impede the legal transition of power and use force against the federal government. Although he is not charged with breaking into the facility, the prosecution claims he was in charge of a group that aggressively resisted police officers and attempted to cover up the evidence of those crimes. Four will stand trial alongside him and four more in November after three friends admitted guilt to seditious conspiracy.
The Justice Department informed all defendants months ago, according to prosecutor Jeffrey Nestler, that SoRelle, who stood with Rhodes on the Capitol grounds on January 6, had “potential criminal exposure.” She is charged with evidence tampering and a plot to hinder the congressional vote count, among other offenses. She has defended her innocence in the open.