A former Oath Keeper who gave “extensive” assistance to federal prosecutors investigating members of the anti-government militia group in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack was on Friday sentenced to three years of probation.
Caleb Berry, 23, traveled to Washington ahead of Jan. 6 with members of the Oath Keepers’s Florida chapter when he was 19 years old. He knew the extremist group was bringing a large cache of weapons to the nation’s capital and prepared to take dramatic action to ensure former President Trump would remain in office, prosecutors said.
Berry pleaded guilty in July 2021 to conspiracy and obstructing an official proceeding, admitting to prosecutors that the Oath Keepers planned to try to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election results.
“The way that Berry has owned the severity of his conduct and the extent of his mistakes stands in stark contrast to the blame-shifting, responsibility-denying comments made by the more senior leaders of this conspiracy,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn L. Rakoczy wrote in the government’s sentencing memorandum, seeking a significant downward departure from federal guidelines.
As part of his plea deal, Berry testified before a grand jury and two Oath Keepers trials. He also traveled to D.C. to testify in two other trials, where his testimony was ultimately not needed.
Berry testified to the violent rhetoric used by Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes – who was convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 18 years in prison – in the group’s encrypted chats.
He said that when Rhodes told members of the group that they would act if Trump didn’t and to “conquer or die,” he understood that to mean that they “needed to act or we would die.”
Berry’s testimony largely implicated Kelly Meggs, leader of the Florida chapter. Meggs was convicted of seditious conspiracy in a trial where Berry did not testify and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Berry provided critical information that, before the group ascended the Capitol steps in a military-style stack formation, Meggs told other Oath Keepers that they were “going to try to stop the vote count.”
Prosecutors asked a federal judge to sentence Berry to three years of supervised probation, plus $2,000 in restitution, while Berry’s attorney requested the “minimum sentence permissible.” U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ordered Berry to pay $500 in restitution, on top of the 36-month probation sentence.
Berry joined the Oath Keepers in November 2020 amid fears that the Constitution was “being ignored” and a desire to “do something.” His attorney, Daniel Fernandez, wrote in a sentencing memorandum that Berry was “caught up in the political drama” of 2020 and “lonely” when he decided to join.
He has since distanced himself from the group.
“What I saw that day in the capitol terrified me,” Berry wrote in an apology letter to several law enforcement officers who testified before the House committee that investigated the Capitol attack. “I returned to Tampa the very next day and immediately resigned from the oath keepers.”
“I sincerely regret what I did on Jan. 6th, 2021,” he continued. “I am ashamed of what happened that day.”
In addition to Rhodes and Meggs, four other Oath Keepers were convicted of seditious conspiracy. Several other members of the extremist group were convicted of serious felonies.
More than 1,500 rioters have been charged in connection with the Capitol attack.
