Kelly Meggs

In January 2021, Kelly and his wife Connie joined others making their way to Washington D.C. to provide security for Donald Trump at his rally. While the group was dressed in paramilitary clothing with Oath Keepers insignias, it was so they could quickly identify each other in case of violence from other groups such as Antifa.

After attending the rally on January 6^th, Kelly and others in his group went to the Capitol Building and sat on the steps singing the National Anthem, ‘God Bless America’, and ‘America the Beautiful’.

At around 2:30 pm, they heard a loud noise and walked up a couple of steps to see what was going on. The doors had been opened and Kelly was pushed into the building by the force of those around him moving forward. He was inside the building for less than thirty minutes, and there is no evidence of violent activity on his part.

Kelly was arrested on February 17^th, 2021, in Florida. He remained in jail until his trial, spending a significant portion of that time in solitary confinement. Along with other patriots, he would sing the National Anthem from inside his cell every night at 9 pm. It gave him comfort to know patriots both inside and outside the prison were singing along. Once he was out of solitary confinement, he helped to start a Bible study. He was determined that some good should come of his incarceration.

Kelly had a jury trial that lasted eight weeks. On November 29, 2022, after three days of deliberations, Kelly was found guilty of seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging duties, and tampering with documents or proceedings.

Kelly pleaded for leniency before his sentence was announced. He stated was not on the grounds of the Capitol to cause any violence and simply got carried away in the heat of the moment. Despite his plea, he was sentenced on May 25, 2023, to 12 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.