A federal judge has given two weeks for Kelly Meggs to replace his recently disbarred attorney, as prosecutors prepare to try the Central Florida resident and other members of the Oath Keepers far-right militia for the attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said in a hearing held via videoconference Friday he will work to relax rules over Meggs’ phone use after the leader of the Oath Keepers’ Florida chapter said those restrictions would keep him from finding another lawyer.
“I understand the difficulty of the position you’re in,” said Mehta, who told Meggs he could potentially represent himself in the case while also noting that move would be unwise.
The hearing set for April 22 will give Meggs, of Dunnellon, time to get a new attorney after Jonathon Alden Moseley’s law license was revoked by the Circuit Court of Prince William County in Virginia a week ago.
Reuters reported Mosley has already appealed the decision announced Tuesday by the Virginia State Bar.
Moseley was representing multiple defendants in the Jan. 6, 2021, attempted insurrection at the Capitol. Meggs is one of 11 members of the Oath Keepers — including its founder, Stewart Rhodes of Texas — charged in a conspiracy case unsealed in January.
The Reuters report noted Moseley’s ability to practice in the D.C. federal court required his membership in another state bar, which means his disbarment in Virginia could impact his ability to remain on the case.
Moseley on Thursday also filed a new motion seeking his client’s release from custody pending trial. The lengthy motion argued that the charges brought by the government were insufficient to justify holding Meggs. Mehta didn’t rule on that motion at Friday’s hearing.
Mehta also ruled against a bid to try all 11 defendants in one trial, calling it unprecedented and logistically impossible without a court facility to do so, though attorneys for the accused said they’ve teamed up to prepare their defense against the government.
The judge said he plans on trying six defendants in July and another five in September.
“I’m not aware of any courtroom, including our ceremonial courtroom, that has the capacity” to try all 11 defendants at once, Mehta said. “… I’m open to the idea of trying 11 defendants as once, but I don’t know where it could happen.”
He continued, “I’m not aware of any case law that says it’s a violation of due process to split up a large number of defendants into multiple trials.”
Meggs is charged with seditious conspiracy. Federal prosecutors say Oath Keepers members facing that charge coordinated to disrupt the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
The Oath Keepers members, who traveled to Washington from across the county, made plans to bring weapons along with them “to support the operation,” a Department of Justice statement said.
Meggs and Harrelson were among a group of Oath Keepers clad in paramilitary attire who authorities allege marched in a “stack” formation up the east steps and into the Capitol after a mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump smashed its way inside the building.
While inside, the stack’s members joined the mob in pushing against a line of law enforcement guarding a hallway to the Senate chamber and later retreated after officers deployed a chemical spray, the indictment said, before heading toward House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.
Court filings called Meggs the “team leader” of the stack group, while a report by Politico described him as the Oath Keepers’ Florida leader.
The conspiracy charge against Meggs carries up to 20 years in federal prison.
The Oath Keepers are known for recruiting current and former members of law enforcement, the military and first-responders. The group, which is considered an anti-government movement, describes itself as defending the Constitution but espouses conspiratorial beliefs.
At least seven Oath Keepers members from Florida have so far been charged in the riot, which experts say shows the organization may have more influence in the state than was previously known.
Meggs, whose wife, 60-year-old Connie Meggs, is also charged in the riot, boasted in online messages leading up to the attack about having “organized an alliance” with two other far-right groups, the Proud Boys and Three Percenters, according to federal prosecutors.
Prosecutors said there was extensive evidence of planning ahead of the Jan. 6 riot involving Meggs, who allegedly “organized and participated in” at least 10 online meetings with fellow Oath Keepers and paid for four hotel rooms in the D.C. area for himself, his wife and fellow Oath Keepers.
The rooms were also used to store firearms and other weapons that would be used by “quick reaction force” teams to “stop the lawful transfer of presidential power,” the indictment said.
After the riot, prosecutors said, Meggs wrote in a chat group on the Signal app that “We are now the enemy of the State.”
“We aren’t quitting!! We are reloading!!”
jeweiner@orlandosentinel.com
