When people of the Oath Keepers, an anti-government extremist group, met online to debate plans to stop the counting of electoral votes sealing Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential success on , Jan. 6, 2021,  , Georgia , resident , Brian Ulrich , signaled he was prepared for anything.
” I will be the person running around with the funds”, he wrote in an encrypted talk, referring to an assault weapons.
His voice changed following his , arrest , in , August 2021 , and later prosecution on , rebellion costs. Ulrich, who lives in , Guyton, a small town northwest of , Savannah, immediately entered into a , appeal agreement , with lawyers and agreed to testify against the other Vow Guards in two , tests.
During a reading Tuesday in , Washington, U. S. District Judge , Amit P. Mehta , sentenced Ulrich, 46, to three times ‘ supervision and$ 2, 000 in compensation for pleading guilty to seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding, both crimes. According to prosecutors in a presentencing letter, Ulrich’s light sentence, which included the possibility of 20 years in prison, reflects both the price he provided as a testimony and his lack of previous criminal convictions and understanding of duty.
Prosecutors had recommended eight months of house arrest along with probation, combined with 120 hours of community service and$ 2, 000 in restitution, while Ulrich’s defense attorneys asked for probation with no home confinement.
Prosecutors recommended no prison time for Ulrich based, in part, on” the substantial assistance Ulrich has provided to law enforcement”.
Prosecutors wrote that, after his arrest, Ulrich quickly offered to plead guilty and cooperate with the investigation. That cooperation was” truthful, complete and reliable” and his “testimony was incredibly impactful”, they wrote in a sentencing recommendation.
Ulrich took a risk in cooperating, prosecutors wrote.
” To plead guilty pursuant to a public cooperation plea agreement in a case that has garnered such national interest and, sadly, controversy, took courage on Ulrich’s part”, they wrote.
They also described Ulrich’s behavior on , Jan. 6 , and the weeks of planning that preceded it as” an isolated incident in an otherwise law-abiding life, although that fact also suggests Ulrich should have known better and makes his conduct on , January 6 , hard to comprehend”.
In a defense memo, Ulrich’s attorneys described his behavior as” a series of bad choices that led him to this legal reckoning” that began with joining the Oath Keepers.
” He is embarrassed at what his actions have caused his country, his family and his person”, his lawyers wrote.
Through his attorneys, Ulrich admitted to planning his trip to , Washington , and outfitting himself with a host of military-style equipment, including a two-way radio to communicate with members of the group, but his lawyers pointed out that he did not personally bring any firearms or ammunition.
Ulrich joined the Oath Keepers of , Georgia , in late , November 2020, just weeks after the election, and took part in a conspiracy prosecutors described as “extensive in both its objective and size”.
In encrypted chat rooms with Stewart Rhodes as Oath Keeper’s founder and bsp, Ulrich and others held planning sessions. We will have to fight a bloody revolution civil war to defeat the traitors, Rhodes wrote in a conversation on the messaging app Signal.
” We must win. We must defeat these radicals … there’s treason at work here”, Urlich responded. ” Sometimes, it used to mean something when someone treasoned someone.” You once made the payment of your life”!
Rhodes advised members of his organization that they needed to be armed with weapons in order to stop Trump’s transition to Biden. According to court records, Ulrich booked a hotel room in , Washington , on , Dec. 19, 2020, for , Jan. 6 , and invited other members of his group to do the same.
In a separate chat, Ulrich warned that if Trump” sits on his hands” that “millions die resisting the death of the 1st and 2nd amendment”.
As part of their planning, Rhodes, Ulrich and others arranged to have an armed group they called a “quick reaction force” stationed just outside , Washington , with a cache of weapons ready to come into the city when called. Ulrich and several members of the group drove to , Washington , in two vehicles, one of which was loaded with firearms and ammunition.
When thousands of people streamed from Trump’s speech at the Ellipse to the , Capitol , grounds, Rhodes ordered the group to move to the , Capitol. Ulrich ferried members of the group to the , Capitol , on a golf cart.
Although Ulrich and other group members marched through the crowd and into the building, according to the prosecution, Ulrich only spent a short time inside the foyer before coming across riot police who were clearing the building.
In trial testimony, Ulrich said the group’s goal was to” stop the vote count”.
In two separate trials, Ulrich and six other cooperating defendants were found guilty in the Oath Keeper sedition case, which led to the conviction of 25 people.
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