A military veteran, identified as Edward Kelley, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for plotting an attack on an FBI office and orchestrating the assassination of law enforcement officers. This plan was allegedly in retaliation for his previous arrest linked to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Kelley was among the initial rioters breaching the Capitol, and later sought to target the FBI’s Knoxville office with explosive-laden vehicles and drones as detailed by the prosecution.
In November of the preceding year, Kelley was convicted by a jury for conspiring to murder federal employees, soliciting violent criminal acts, and threatening federal officials. Even though Kelley, aged 36 and hailing from Maryvale, Tennessee, received a presidential pardon for his Capitol riot charges, the same relief did not extend to his Tennessee case, leaving him among the few Capitol offenders still in prison post-pardon.
During a sentencing session in Knoxville, U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan administered Kelley’s life sentence, declining a request for his release pending appeal. Prosecutors pushed for a life sentence, positioning Kelley as unrepentant and beyond reform, asserting that he saw his acts as justifiable and as a patriotic duty to target local law enforcement for assassination.
Kelley, who served eight years in the Marine Corps with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, was noted for his questionable actions during the Capitol breach. The FBI reportedly recorded Kelley assisting other rioters in overpowering a Capitol Police officer and damaging property. He was notably one of the early entries into the Capitol through a shattered window.
A federal court in Washington convicted Kelley of 11 riot-related charges following a non-jury trial. However, before sentencing, former President Trump pardoned Kelley along with other riot convicts. Despite Kelley’s argument that his pardon encompassed his Tennessee conduct, the judge refuted this, considering the Tennessee case distinct both in time and scope from his Capitol-related actions.
Contrasting with similar January 6 cases where pardons have covered additional convictions, Kelley’s pardon did not apply to charges resulting from the Tennessee incident. For instance, a man from Kentucky received clemency not just for the Capitol breach but also for an unlawful firearm possession charge stemming from an FBI search.
Since December 2022, Kelley has been detained. His attorney, Mark Brown, claimed Kelley neither inflicted harm nor explicitly threatened violence during the incident and argued against the application of a “terrorism enhancement” during sentencing. Brown posited that Kelley’s sentence was disproportionate relative to actual terrorists harming numerous American citizens.
In January 2024, Kelley’s conspirator, Austin Carter, pleaded guilty to charges related to the plot and is slated for sentencing in August. Kelley had compiled a list of 36 law enforcement officials targeted for assassination, which he shared with Carter, labeling it as their initial “mission.” These officers were involved in his 2022 arrest and the subsequent search by the FBI.
Prosecutors provided evidence that Kelley singled out law enforcement due to their anticipated roles in a supposed civil war he intended to incite and due to personal grievances surrounding his arrest and home search. He, Carter, and another participant discussed these plans using an encrypted messaging system, with Carter admitting to partaking in military-style training with Kelley.
According to Carter’s testimony, the plot to assassinate law enforcement was serious and likely actionable if arrests hadn’t occurred. However, Kelley’s defense claimed the case lacked concrete planning, asserting that discussions did not translate into actions. His attorney stressed his commitment to freedom of speech, despite potentially inflammatory rhetoric.