A former Marine was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for plotting to bomb an FBI office and murder other federal agents following his arrest for the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Edward Kelley, 36, was convicted in November on several charges relating to his retaliation plot against the FBI office in Knoxville, Tenn. He also developed a “kill list” of various law enforcement officers who were involved in his Jan. 6 case, according to the feds.
Kelley was one of the first people who broke into the U.S. Capitol when Congress was attempting to certify Donald Trump’s defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
Though Kelley was eventually convicted in relation to his actions that day, President Trump pardoned him along with all other defendants in the case shortly after taking office. However, the Justice Department argued the pardon did not to apply to Kelley’s plot against federal agents.
According to investigators, Kelley and another man, Austin Carter, developed a list of 36 law enforcement officers that they would target for assassination using improvised explosives attached to vehicles and drones. All 36 were involved in Kelley’s initial arrest on Capitol riot charges and the FBI’s search of his home.
Carter flipped and pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge, then testified against Kelley. His sentenced hearing is scheduled for Aug. 4.
“Carter’s testimony was unequivocal — he had no doubts that, had he and Kelley not been arrested, the law enforcement personnel included on Kelley’s list would have been murdered,” prosecutors wrote in court documents.
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