Tag: Crime

By Sarah N. Lynch and Chris GallagherWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The founder of the far-right Oath Keepers group, Stewart Rhodes, and four others are the first people to go on trial in more than a decade over seditious conspiracy charges for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.Rhodes and his four co-defendants - Thomas Caldwell, Kenneth Harrelson, Kelly Meggs and Jessica Watkins - are accused of conspiring to try to keep Republican Donald Trump in power after he had lost the 2020 election. A pro-Trump mob charged into the Capitol on Jan. 6 and attacked police but failed to prevent lawmakers from certifying Democrat Joe Biden's victory.Seditious conspiracy is a rarely prosecuted crime under a statute dating to the Civil War era and is defined as attempting "to overthrow,...

(Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's pardon for thousands of Americans convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal law has profound impact, experts and individuals say, even if it affects fewer people than similar state and local initiatives. Biden has called on governors to issue similar pardons regarding state marijuana offenses.Biden's pardons announced Oct. 6 affect about 6,500 people convicted of cannabis possession at the federal level. None remain in prison. Without a felony on their record, they won't be tripped up when applying for a job or trying to rent an apartment. Research by the American Civil Liberties Union has shown Black Americans are nearly four times as likely as whites to be arrested for marijuana possession.Biden's pardon does not affect some 3,000 pe...