Edward Kelley appears to break a window at the U.S. Capitol in a gas mask, clear glasses, black and grey gloves, and a green tactical helmet during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021 (U.S. Attorney’s Office).
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., convicted a 35-year-old Tennessee man for breaking into the U.S. Capitol and assaulting police officers during the Jan. 6 attack, the Department of Justice announced Friday.
Edward Kelley was found guilty of three felonies, including civil disorder, one count of destruction of government property in an amount over $1,000 and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers. The judge also convicted him of eight misdemeanors. In addition, Kelley is facing Tennessee charges in an alleged plot to kill the FBI agents investigating him for his role in the Capitol riot. He’ll be sentenced on April 7.
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During Jan. 6, Kelley donned tactical gear — including a helmet, gas mask, gloves and glasses — and was among a group of rioters who confronted Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman. They started yelling at him, demanding to know “where are they counting the votes?” Kelley and co. then chased Goodman up a flight of stairs as the officer attempted to steer them away from the Senate chamber as it was being evacuated. Goodman was hailed as a hero and awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
FBI Special Agent Jessi Mann testified during Kelley’s trial that it appeared he was carrying a waistband gun holster that Kelley likely wore that day, which would have concealed a gun, NBC News reported. Mann also said the weapon’s “printing” — or outline — and the clip on the holster on his pants could be seen in Capitol surveillance photos from that day. The agent also testified that Kelley bought boxes of ammunition and gas masks before the attack, NBC reported.
As Law&Crime has previously reported, Kelley is accused of storming the building that day to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral win.
He smashed a window at the building using a wooden plank to enter and then kicked a door open to let other rioters in, court documents said. Investigators also claimed that he and two other men got into an altercation with a Capitol police officer, throwing the law enforcement official to the ground.
After Kelley’s May 2022 arrest in the Jan. 6 case and while he was awaiting trial, he was accused of plotting to take out the law enforcement personnel investigating him. Authorities alleged that he was caught discussing “assassination missions” with acquaintances and forming a hit list with them.
One witness who spoke to law enforcement provided “the list” with a thumb drive in an envelope to investigators, per court docs.
“The envelope contained a printed document titled ‘The list’ with approximately thirty-seven names, positions and some phone numbers of the law enforcement personnel who participated in the criminal investigation of Kelley,” court documents said. “The list specifically identified which law enforcement officers were ‘present at arrest or home search’ of Kelley on May 5, 2022. The list appears to be a computer-generated word document. Additionally, the envelope contained a thumb drive of what appears to be video footage from Kelley’s home security camera from the morning of the search of Kelley’s home on May 5, 2022, which depicts at least one law enforcement officer approaching Kelley’s home.”
The witness stepped forward to investigators with this evidence, authorities said.
Kelley is set to go to trial in the FBI murder plot case in Tennessee on Nov. 18, online court records show.
Law&Crime’s Jason Kandel, Alberto Luperon and Marisa Sarnoff contributed to this report.
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