WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Department of Justice asked a federal appeals court to throw out the seditious conspiracy convictions of 12 people found guilty in connection with the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. The request was filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

"The United States has determined in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice," the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C., wrote in its filing.

The January 6, 2021, riot involved protesters seeking to stop Congress from certifying that Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. On his first day back in office, Trump issued pardons or commutations for more than 1,500 people convicted in connection with the riot. He had pledged during his 2024 presidential campaign to free those charged or convicted for participating in the breach of the Capitol.

Among those whose sentences Trump commuted were Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and several members of his group, as well as members of the Proud Boys. Commuting their sentences allowed those individuals to be released from prison while their convictions remained on their records. Rhodes, a former U.S. Army paratrooper and Yale-educated lawyer, was sentenced in 2023 to 18 years in prison after being found guilty of seditious conspiracy. He led a contingent of Oath Keepers militia members to Washington, D.C., for the January 6 riot, and members of the group stashed weapons in a hotel room across the Potomac River in Virginia. Rhodes did not enter the Capitol building but directed his members from outside.

Henry "Enrique" Tarrio was also convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 22 years in prison. Tarrio was pardoned by Trump.

The D.C. Circuit set an April 17 deadline to file requests to expunge convictions related to the January 6 riot. Rhodes is among those seeking to have his conviction record expunged through the appeals court. The DOJ's request to vacate the 12 seditious conspiracy convictions follows Trump's earlier executive actions granting pardons and commutations to those convicted in the Capitol riot cases.