Jury considers Oath Keepers case
Mar. 11—The criminal case against a Thomasville woman and several other members of a militia group accused of taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot and storming of the U.S. Capitol now is in the hands of a jury in Washington, D.C.
The trial of Laura Lee Steele, 54, and five other members of the Oath Keepers militia group began Feb. 10, and closing arguments concluded Friday morning.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Troy Edwards told the jury that although the Oath Keepers emphasized their patriotism and all the times they helped people, when given the opportunity to help outnumbered officers on Jan. 6 they called the rioters patriots and joined them, reporter Jordan Fischer of WUSA-TV in Washington reported.
"These defendants were done waiting for someone else to act," Edwards said. "They claimed to be saving the republic. They fractured it. But it still stands."
The jury began its deliberations just before lunch.
The juries in two high-profile trials of Oath Keepers leaders in recent months took several days to reach a verdict, but unlike those cases, the charges against Steele and her codefendants do not include seditious conspiracy.
The charges include conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding; civil disorder; depredation against federal government property; and unlawful entry, disorderly conduct, or violent conduct in restricted buildings or grounds.
Steele, who joined the Oath Keepers just a short time before Jan. 6, and the others are accused of participating in what prosecutors say was an organized effort to break into the Capitol to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. They wore paramilitary gear and joined in a military "stack" formation that marched up the center steps on the east side of the U.S. Capitol, breached the door at the top and entered the building.
Steele also is accused of destroying evidence after she returned home by deleting Facebook posts about her views and burning the clothes that she wore to Washington.
Steele traveled to Washington with her brother, Graydon Young, 56, of Florida, who had convinced Steele to join the Oath Keepers. Young pleaded guilty in June 2021 to conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding, and he was a prominent prosecution witness in the seditious conspiracy trial that included Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes.
Steele had been a High Point police officer from 1992 until August 2004, when she was fired "for conduct toward superior personnel, absence from duty and violation of communication policy," according to a police release of information from her personnel records with the department. During her time on the force, Steele served as a school resource officer and in the patrol bureau.
At the time of her arrest in February 2021, Steele was a security guard.
