WASHINGTON — A Donald Trump supporter who was among the first rioters to breach the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has been convicted of plotting to kill FBI special agents who investigated him over his crimes at the Capitol.
Edward Kelley, who was convicted this month of assaulting law enforcement officers and other crimes during the Capitol attack, was found guilty on Wednesday on three additional charges: conspiracy to murder employees of the United States; solicitation to commit a crime of violence; and influencing or retaliating against federal officials by threat.
The murder plot trial, which started Monday, took place in Knoxville, Tennessee. NBC News affiliate WBIR in Knoxville reported that the jury convicted Kelley on all three counts after just an hour of deliberation. Kelley will be sentenced in the murder plot case on May 7, one month after he is set to be sentenced on his Capitol case, on April 7.
Kelley's trial in Knoxville featured testimony from co-defendant Austin Carter, who pleaded guilty in November 2023. Carter told authorities that he and Kelley plotted “to murder employees of the Federal Bureau of Investigation" in December 2022, months after Kelley’s arrest on Jan. 6 charges. Kelley provided a list of about 37 members of law enforcement who worked on his Jan. 6 case, prosecutors alleged.
Carter, according to WBIR, told jurors that Kelley thought the country was heading toward civil war and wanted to strike first, initially planning to attack the FBI Knoxville field office before deciding to target individual FBI employees who had worked on his Jan. 6 case.
Christopher Roddy, who had worked with Kelley in security and tipped off the FBI, also testified during the trial, as did three FBI special agents who said they saw the list as a threat.
The Justice Department said that evidence presented during the trial showed that Kelley developed a "kill list" of FBI special agents and others who investigated his conduct and that he was recorded talking about developing a "course of action" for their "mission," giving instructions to "start it," "attack" and "take out their office" if he was arrested again.
“Every hit has to hurt," Kelley said in the recording, according to DOJ. "Every hit has to hurt.”
Kelley, an anti-abortion activist, wore a sweatshirt reading TCAPP, standing for “The Church At Planned Parenthood,” when he became the fourth rioter to breach the U.S. Capitol. During his trial in Washington on the Jan. 6 charges, the government made the case that Kelley had been armed with a weapon when he stormed the Capitol. While prosecutors illustrated that Kelley was wearing a gun holster that could be concealed on the inside of his pants and showed what they believed to be the "printing" of a gun, they didn't conclusively prove that allegation, and it was not central to their case.
During the Jan. 6 attack, prosecutors said, Kelley's wife messaged him to ask how things were going, writing that she didn't believe the "fake news." Kelley encouraged his wife to download Signal, the encrypted communications app, prosecutors said.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said that threats against members of the FBI were "reprehensible and dangerous” and would not be tolerated by the bureau.
"While awaiting trial for committing violent acts, Edward Kelley planned and conspired to attack our employees at work and at home for carrying out their duties," Wray said in a statement. "The FBI will never tolerate violent threats against our workforce or any of our colleagues in law enforcement and will continue our work to ensure they are held accountable."
Over 1,500 defendants have been arrested in connection with the Capitol attack, and federal prosecutors have secured the convictions of more than 1,100 Jan. 6 participants. As NBC News has reported, more than 70 rioters on the FBI's Capitol Violence website have been identified to the bureau by online sleuths but not yet arrested.
The Justice Department is expected to focus on arresting the "most egregious" rioters before Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20, 2025, when he's expected to begin pardoning some undetermined portion of Jan. 6 rioters he's called "warriors," "unbelievable patriots," political prisoners and “hostages.” The Trump-Vance transition team told NBC News last week that pardons would be done on "a case-by-case basis."
