Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes’s requests to delay the trial and get a special master appointed in his Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy case were denied Tuesday by the US District Judge Amit Mehta hours after his legal team submitted the requests.
Judge Mehta announced he’ll outline his reasoning for denying the request during Wednesday’s pretrial conference.
Rhodes’s trial for seditious conspiracy and other charges related to his involvement in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is scheduled on Sept. 26.
Stressing the volume of the documents spanning more than 10 terabytes of data, Rhodes’s attorney had requested the special master appointment as one of the most cost-effective methods for managing and dispensing discovery of such a massive volume.
It was former President Trump’s request for special master to examine materials FBI seized at his Mar-a-Lago residence that has put in the spotlight the use of a court-appointed official who carries out an action on its behalf.
Rhodes’s attorney emphasized in the filing that the special master would be most efficient in the litigation phase which is most likely to break down and cause delays to case resolution.
He justified the Oath Keepers leader’s repeated requests to delay his trial due to the fact that being sent to four different jails that had obstacles hindering his preparation left him less time to prepare than the other defendants scheduled for trial along with him.
The request was also asking that Rhodes has a stand-alone trial or alternatively join another group’s trial scheduled for Nov. 10.
Judge Mehta denied a previous delay request last week, which cited the change of attorney as a reason Rhodes could not properly defend himself in the trial slated for later this month.
Rhodes has only recently hired his current lawyer Edward Tapley after having a breakdown in communication with his previous attorneys.
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