(Revises headline)
By Andrew Goudsward
(Reuters) -A man who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for conspiring to kill the FBI agents who investigated him, according to the U.S. Justice Department and court records.
Edward Kelley was convicted in November of conspiracy to murder federal employees, solicitation to commit a crime of violence and influencing a federal official by threat, court records show.
Prosecutors alleged Kelley, along with another man, planned to attack the FBI field office in Knoxville, Tennessee, using car bombs and incendiary devices attached to drones. He was recorded discussing plans to “take out their office” if he was arrested, according to a Justice Department statement.
Prosecutors alleged that Kelley developed a “kill list” of federal law enforcement based in the area and also discussed assassinating FBI employees in their homes or public spaces.
His co-defendant, Austin Carter, pleaded guilty in the plot and is scheduled to be sentenced in August.
Kelley was also found guilty on several charges, including assaulting law enforcement, in a separate case over his role in storming the Capitol. That case was dropped in January before he was sentenced as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping grant of clemency for all nearly 1,600 people criminally charged in the attack.
The attack on the Capitol was a failed attempt by Trump supporters to block congressional certification of Trump’s defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
Kelley argued Trump’s pardon should extend to the case in Tennessee because it was related to his conduct at the Capitol. The Justice Department, during Trump’s second administration, opposed that effort and a judge later rejected his argument.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward)
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