A “remorseless” Jan. 6 defendant found guilty last year of plotting to kill FBI agents investigating him after the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday.
At a hearing in Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan sentenced defendant Edward Kelley. The Justice Department argued in a sentencing memorandum last month that Kelley deserved the harshest possible punishment because he continued to “believe he was justified in targeting East Tennessee law enforcement for assassination” — and that he was “duty-bound as a self-proclaimed patriot to do so.”
According to a press release from the Department of Justice, the judge agreed.
“Kelley, 36, of Maryville … was sentenced to life in prison today in the Eastern District of Tennessee,” according to a statement.
“According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Kelley developed a plan to murder law enforcement, including agents, officers, and employees of the FBI, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Maryville Police Department, Blount County Sheriff’s Office, and Clinton Police Department,” the Department of Justice announced. “The evidence showed that Kelley developed a ‘kill list’ of law enforcement and distributed the list — along with videos containing images of his targets — to a co-conspirator as part of his ‘mission.'”
Following a three-day trial, Kelley was found guilty in November 2024 of conspiracy to murder federal employees, solicitation to commit a violent crime, and threatening a federal official. The government filed its sentencing memorandum on June 17 and recommended life in prison, calling Kelley’s criminal behaviour “unquestionably serious,” according to the filing.
“The defendant is remorseless,” the DOJ alleged.
“From even before the instant offences of conviction, through his commission of these crimes, up until and after trial, the defendant’s conduct demonstrates a fundamental absence of remorse, a commitment to continuing his criminal behaviour once released from prison, disrespect for the rule of law, and a profound need for deterrence,” the prosecution argued. “Beyond simply refusing to accept responsibility for his own criminal behaviour, the Defendant believes he is the victim of a crime allegedly committed by the FBI, the United States, the trial witnesses, the jury, and this Court. Rather than expressing a desire to rehabilitate himself, he appears to take pride in his crimes.”
Kelley’s attorney, Mark Brown, claimed in their response that the DOJ was using “unsubstantiated and uncharged allegations” to portray Kelley in a “false light.”
Kelley attempted to claim earlier this year that his federal murder plot case and conviction in Tennessee were “related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021,” according to court documents. On Jan. 27, one week after Trump’s executive order pardoning anyone prosecuted for the riot, he filed a motion to dismiss his indictment and vacate his jury convictions. The DOJ urged Varlan to uphold Kelley’s conviction, describing his claims as “wrong” and Kelley himself as having “no authority supporting his position.”
In March, Varlan, a George W. Bush appointee, agreed with the DOJ and rejected Kelley’s court bid to have his murder plot conviction covered by Trump’s pardon, stating that “none of the substantive offences or charging provisions overlap” in the way Kelley claimed in filings. According to the DOJ, Kelley was “motivated by a desire to initiate a civil war and retaliate for his previous arrest,” and was “committed to executing his plan.”
Kelley was convicted of three felonies in his Jan. 6 case, including civil disorder, destruction of government property in excess of $1,000, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, for allegedly storming the Capitol and attacking a police officer. Evidence presented at his trial in Knoxville revealed that he compiled a “kill list” of FBI agents and employees investigating him and his Jan. 6 behaviour, which he then distributed to “conspirators,” along with images of them.
“At trial, the United States introduced recordings of the defendant calling for the development of a ‘course of action’ related to his plan,” the Department of Justice disclosed on Wednesday. “In one such recording, the defendant gave the instructions to, among other things, ‘start it,’ ‘attack,’ and ‘take out their office’ in the event of his arrest.”
Kelley was captured saying, “You don’t have time to train or coordinate, but every hit has to hurt,” and “Every hit has to hurt.”
“These crimes are serious and undeniably dangerous,” the government wrote in its sentencing memo. “He continues to believe he was justified in targeting East Tennessee law enforcement for assassination and was duty-bound as a self-proclaimed patriot to do so.”
