'What we've got here is a failure to communicate': Oath Keeper ringleader wants trial delayed
With his seditious conspiracy trial looming in mere weeks, the onetime leader of the extremist Oath Keepers group has asked a federal judge to delay his case once more in light of what he described as a “near-complete breakdown in communication” with his attorneys.
Presiding U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta will now hear the request during an emergency hearing set for 3:30 PM Wednesday.
Rhodes says he needs more time—three more months to be exact—before the Sept. 26 trial date to prepare with his lawyers. According to the 20-page filing entered in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday, Rhodes has suggested too that he would prefer to face charges solo.
“’Codefendants have had almost a year more than Rhodes to prepare for trial,’ the motion states.”
If the request were granted, that would mean his case would be altogether severed from current co-defendants facing seditious conspiracy including Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Thomas Caldwell, and Jessica Watkins.
RELATED STORY: Oath Keepers seditious conspiracy trial update: Trial will start in September
Oath Keeper co-defendant Kenneth Harrelson saw his request to sever himself from Rhodes denied ahead of a hearing where Rhodes will ask 1) to have his September trial delayed; 2) to substitute his counsel and 3) to have himself severed from co-defendants.
In addition to Judge Mehta denying the request from Harrelson, on Wednesday federal prosecutors filed their motion opposing Rhodes’s requests. They argue Rhodes has had sufficient time to review discovery and note that he has requested multiple delays in the past for the same reasons. Prosecutors also challenged whether the nature of Rhodes’s relationship with his attorneys James Lee Bright and Phil Linder was sufficiently broken and whether a substitute counsel was needed at this late stage. Jury selection begins Sept. 26 and the trial is currently on track to begin Sept. 27.
NOW: Judge Mehta says during hearing on Wednesday that he will not delay Rhodes’s seditious conspiracy trial date, slated to start Sept. 27.