Jan. 6 defendant sentenced to life in prison for plotting to kill FBI special agents who investigated him
Edward Kelley was convicted in November of conspiracy to murder employees of the United States; solicitation to commit a crime of violence; and influencing or retaliating against federal officials by threat. President Donald Trump pardoned Kelley, alongside roughly 1,500 other Jan. 6 defendants, in January.
Kelley's team argued that Trump's pardon should apply to his conduct in the murder plot. While the Justice Department had argued that the pardons should apply to separate gun cases against other Jan. 6 defendants, they said the pardon did not apply to Kelley's conduct. A federal judge ruled that Trump's pardon did not apply to the murder plot.
Federal prosecutors sought life in prison for Kelley, calling him 'remorseless" and writing that he had "shown neither a capacity nor desire" to rehabilitate.
"On the contrary, Kelley not only believes the actions for which he was convicted were justified but that his duty as a self-styled 'patriot' compelled him to target East Tennessee law enforcement for assassination,' federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo.
Kelley, prosecutors wrote, "committed crimes that are serious, violent, and all designed to achieve the same end: the murder of federal, state, and local law enforcement."
Kelley "formed a self-styled militia to attack the FBI," and "conducted combat drills to realize his plan," they wrote. He "strategized ways to bomb the FBI Knoxville office" and "identified a 'hornet's nest' at which to store his various weapons at 'arms' reach.'" Kelley also "devised a kill list of individual agents to be targeted" and then "gave the go-ahead command — 'start it' — to his confederates, noting that 'every hit has to hurt.'"
Kelley's lawyer wrote that "no individual was directly threatened with harm or violence by Kelley, and no one was injured" and that "Kelley does not deserve the same sentence as an actual 'terrorist' who injured or killed hundreds or thousands" of Americans.
Austin Carter, who admitted that he conspired with Kelley in the murder plot and pleaded guilty, is scheduled to be sentenced next month.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NBC News
3 hours ago
- NBC News
U.S. completes deportation of 8 men to South Sudan after weeks of legal wrangling
WASHINGTON — Eight men deported from the United States in May and held under guard for weeks at an American military base in the African nation of Djibouti while their legal challenges played out in court have now reached the Trump administration's intended destination, war-torn South Sudan, a country the State Department advises against travel to due to 'crime, kidnapping, and armed conflict.' The immigrants from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam and South Sudan arrived in South Sudan on Friday after a federal judge cleared the way for the Trump administration to relocate them in a case that had gone to the Supreme Court, which had permitted their removal from the U.S. Administration officials said the men had been convicted of violent crimes in the U.S. 'This was a win for the rule of law, safety and security of the American people,' said Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin in a statement Saturday announcing the men's arrival in South Sudan, a chaotic country in danger once more of collapsing into civil war. The Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for the transfer of the men who had been put on a flight in May bound for South Sudan. That meant that the South Sudan transfer could be completed after the flight was detoured to a base in Djibouti, where they men were held in a converted shipping container. The flight was detoured after a federal judge found the administration had violated his order by failing to allow the men a chance to challenge the removal. The court's conservative majority had ruled in June that immigration officials could quickly deport people to third countries. The majority halted an order that had allowed immigrants to challenge any removals to countries outside their homeland where they could be in danger. A flurry of court hearings on Independence Day resulted a temporary hold on the deportations while a judge evaluated a last-ditch appeal by the men before the judge decided he was powerless to halt their removals and that the person best positioned to rule on the request was a Boston judge whose rulings led to the initial halt of the administration's effort to begin deportations to South Sudan. By Friday evening, that judge had issued a brief ruling concluding the Supreme Court had tied his hands. The men had final orders of removal, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have said. Authorities have reached agreements with other countries to house immigrants if authorities cannot quickly send them back to their homelands.
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
FBI warns travelers of Scattered Spider cybercriminal group hacking into major airlines' systems
A sophisticated hacker group known as Scattered Spider is targeting major airline systems in a series of cyberattacks - putting passengers' personal information at serious risk, the has FBI warned. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued an urgent alert on X last month, warning travelers that a cybercriminal group - previously focused on retail and insurance - has now expanded its attacks to include the aviation industry. Nicknamed Scattered Spider, the dangerous hacker group uses slick 'social engineering' tricks, like pretending to be airline employees, to sneak their way into highly protected internal systems. Once they're in, they swipe sensitive data - then hold it hostage, demanding a payout to keep it from being leaked or sold, the agency explained. According to the FBI, the hackers often go a step further - locking up entire systems with ransomware, leaving them completely unusable until the hefty ransom is paid. 'They target large corporations and their third-party IT providers, which means anyone in the airline ecosystem, including trusted vendors and contractors, could be at risk,' the warning read. On June 27, the FBI warned the millions of daily air travelers that the notorious hacker group Scattered Spider started infiltrating the transportation industry, and often gain access by impersonating employees or contractors. Using what the FBI referred to as 'social engineering techniques' - Scattered Spider is known to trick company's IT help desks into letting them inside the secure internal systems. One of their go-to tactics is tricking IT desks into adding fake devices - disguised as routine 'help' - which then allow the hackers to slip past key security measures like multi-factor authentication. 'Once inside, Scattered Spider actors steal sensitive data for extortion and often deploy ransomware,' the FBI wrote. 'The FBI is actively working with aviation and industry partners to address this activity and assist victims,' they added. 'Early reporting allows the FBI to engage promptly, share intelligence across the industry, and prevent further compromise.' Brett Winterford, vice president of threat intelligence at Okta, described Scattered Spider as a loosely connected group of young hackers - mostly from Western countries - who collaborate and share techniques in an online forum called TheCom, as reported by Forbes. While money is their main motivation, Winterford said that they're also driven by 'the desire to score a big win that impresses their peers,' according to the outlet. They don't stick to one type of target - if they succeed in attacking one company in an industry, they will try the same trick on similar companies again and again. 'If they enjoy success against a target in any given industry, they'll rinse and repeat against similar organizations,' Winterford added. This is just the latest troubling news in the aviation world - the same tactics seem to be behind the recent cyberattack on Qantas. On Monday, Qantas - Australia's largest airline - confirmed a major data breach that could have impacted up to six million customers. In a statement on its website, Qantas said it detected unusual activity on a third-party customer service platform used by one of its call centers. A cybercriminal reportedly targeted the call center, breaking into the customer service platform - but Qantas said they locked down the breach shortly afterward. 'There are six million customers that have service records in this platform,' the statement said. 'We are continuing to investigate the proportion of the data that has been stolen, though we expect it will be significant.' 'An initial review has confirmed the data includes some customers' names, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates and frequent flyer numbers,' it added. However, the airline also assured customers that credit card details, personal financial information and passport data were not stored in the compromised system. In an update on Friday, Qantas said the group believed responsible for the incident remained unclear and that it had not received a ransom request. Now, the biggest danger is that the stolen data could be used for fraud or even identity theft. Airlines have since been urged to strengthen their security after the massive hack left the aviation giant vulnerable to potential legal consequences. Last month, in a strikingly similar case, Delta Air Lines locked access to some frequent flyer accounts due to cybersecurity concerns discovered earlier that week - but didn't immediately inform the affected customers, The Hill reported. The issue came to light when a customer - who happened to be a TV reporter in Pennsylvania, according to The Hill - was unable to access his Delta account or change his password. When the reporter dug deeper, a Delta reservations agent revealed that the airline was dealing with 'concerns about a potential security breach' affecting 'a large number of customers' - possibly up to 68,000. Although customers were asked to verify their identity by uploading a photo of a valid government ID, a Delta spokesperson insisted that SkyMiles accounts remained secure and said the credential resets were carried out 'out of an abundance of caution,' according to the outlet.
Reuters
4 hours ago
- Reuters
Ukraine's Zelenskiy says latest Trump call the 'most productive' yet
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday (July 5) that his latest conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump this week was the best and "most productive" he has had to date. Olivia Zollino reports.
