Trans Oath keeper Jessica Watkins convicted in January 6 case

A transgender member of the Oath Keepers, who was lured to the paramilitary group after consuming a “solid diet” by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, was sentenced to an 8 1/2 on Friday for Jan. 6-related crimes years imprisonment.

Jessica Watkins was tried alongside Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and three others and chose to testify in her own defense in last year’s historic seditious conspiracy trial. She evaded conviction on the main count of her charge, a law often compared to a milder analogy to treason. However, she was convicted of serious crimes, including obstructing an official proceeding, conspiring to prevent officials from performing their duties, and civil commotion.

Federal prosecutors had asked the judge to give her an 18-year sentence, but that outcome became unlikely after Rhodes received the same sentence on Thursday, about seven years less than the government’s request. Watkins’ punishment was always expected to be far lighter than that of the Oath Keepers leader.

Watkins reportedly broke down in tears at her sentencing hearing on Friday, expressing regret, rejecting violence and praising the impartiality of US District Judge Amit Mehta, according to multiple media reports.

“I was just another idiot walking around,” Watkins said, according to the judge NBC. “Today you will hold this idiot accountable.”

Judge Mehta called her one of the “most compassionate” defendants on the Oath Keepers record and expressed hope that Watkins “continues to de-radicalize,” according to an independent journalist Brandi Buchman.

When she took the stand in November, Watkins testified about her painful process of disclosing her gender identity. She said her parents rejected her and that in the military, a soldier who got wind of her identity called her a homophobic slur. She later disappeared, she said.

While stewing on InfoWars shows, she said she found community with the Oath Keepers.

“That’s probably how I found the Oath Keepers in the first place,” Watkins said Nov. 16, referring to Jones’ show. “I watched it five, six hours a day.”

She reportedly reiterated her media diet as she delivered her sentencing.

Immersed in the show’s paranoid style, Watkins said she fears a planned plot by the United Nations and the Chinese government to infiltrate a Joe Biden government to subjugate the populace. Rhodes referred to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as “Chicom puppets,” short for the Chinese Communist Party, in encrypted chat messages, court evidence showed.

“I put two and two together that the United Nations was going to come here and go door-to-door with vaccines, and I didn’t want that,” Watkins said late last year. “I tried 50/50.”

Though Watkins denied those beliefs, she testified that she still has “questions” about the 2020 presidential election. She also described her enthusiasm for the group, which protects former President Donald Trump’s inner circle, including Michael Flynn and Roger Stone.

Prosecutors called for an increased sentence on terrorism charges, justified in part by their violent rhetoric on the day of the Capitol attack.

“We were right in the middle,” Watkins boasted on Jan. 6. “We stormed the Capitol. We forced our way into the Senate and the House of Representatives. Got tear gas fired and fought off the cops like Spartans.”

Even after the riot, Watkins remained “unyielding,” prosecutors said.

“We have prepared a plan to abolish the usurper,” reads one of her text messages.

Her attorney, Jonathan Crisp, argued that Watkins’ remorse was slow to dawn – and she admitted to a jury immediately after Jan. 6 that she was “absolutely proud” – but her remorse is genuine.

Following Watkins’ conviction, her co-defendant and Oath Keepers member Kenneth Harrelson must answer to him. Prosecutors have asked the judge to give him a 15-year sentence.

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