Edward Kelley, a decorated Marine and father, will spend the rest of his life in prison based not on action, but on words. Kelley, 36, was sentenced yesterday to life in federal prison for what the DOJ calls a “conspiracy” to attack an FBI office though no bombs were made, no weapons were used, no agents were harmed, and no attack ever happened.
So what exactly did Kelley do? He made a 36-person list, and he talked tough. Saying “every hit has to hurt” when talking about hurting FBI agents.
Prosecutors claimed Kelley was trying to “start a civil war.” Kelley said he was blowing off steam on encrypted apps. Prosecutors further said he was “remorseless” because he would not admit his guilt and throw himself on their mercy.
The DOJ referred to Kelley as a “self-styled ‘patriot.’”
Kelley, according to the press release from the DOJ, “strategized about assassinating FBI employees in their homes…” and for this, they labeled him a domestic terrorist. Kelley was angry that his home had been raided in 2022 after serving a January 6th-related sentence for shoving a police officer.
After the FBI raid, after he had been released from prison, Kelley was angry that he was being continually harassed and surveilled by federal authorities.
Kelley is allegedly the fourth person known to have entered the Capitol building on January 6th among the assembled pro-Trump crowd.
Kelley was convicted of 11 criminal counts by a jury as part of a several-day trial in November 2024. U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan, a George W. Bush appointee, handed down Kelley’s life sentence.
In ‘victim impact statements’ read before the court, assembled FBI agents said they now lived their life in fear and terror, having to install security systems, and would live the rest of their lives in fear because Kelley had made a list with their names on it in an encrypted app.
The DOJ’s case against Kelley rests on private conversations, video messages, and a so-called “kill list” that prosecutors allege he created. But even the government admitted Kelley never took concrete steps to carry out any violence.
Kelley’s attorney, Mark Brown, argued that the case hinged on “little to no planning” and that his client was being punished for expressing political frustration, not for any violent act. “No test runs were made. No drones were built. No FBI agents were threatened directly. This was a veteran venting, not a terrorist plotting,” Brown said.
Kelley has been jailed since December 2022. His co-defendant Austin Carter plead guilty to conspiracy in January 2024, and will be sentenced on August 4th.
Kelley, who had previously received a presidential pardon from Donald Trump for his January 6 conviction, maintained that the Biden administration had been hellbent on revenge ever since his release. Prosecutors leaned heavily on edgy language recorded in private messages between Kelley and another man, Austin Carter, including phrases like “start it” and “every hit has to hurt.” But talk is not action and this raises a chilling question: is America now jailing people for mere speech?
In past cases, the Supreme Court has drawn a sharp line between advocating violence in theory and actually inciting imminent lawless action. Kelley’s case appears to blur that line dramatically. The defense argued that this prosecution had less to do with any real threat and more to do with politics. A veteran of the U.S. Marines, Kelley was present on January 6 and convicted of shoving a police officer. He served time but was later pardoned by President Trump.
Notably, the Department of Justice has been reluctant to prosecute former FBI head James Comey even though Comey made social media posts calling for the assassination of President Trump.
Shortly after his release, federal agents raided his home, taking his electronics and leaving Kelley furious. According to his legal team, he felt harassed and surveilled and said so in private messages. Rather than deescalate, the DOJ escalated. And now a man with no history of violence, no weapons, and no criminal activity since his release is behind bars for the rest of his life.
Prosecutors invoked a rarely used “domestic terrorism” enhancement at sentencing, despite the fact that no bomb, bullet, or barricade was ever used. The enhancement added years, if not decades, to Kelley’s sentence, treating him as if he’d committed 9/11-level crimes. Even legal experts critical of Kelley expressed discomfort.
“We’re seeing more and more cases where DOJ prosecutors stretch the concept of conspiracy and other criminal statutes beyond recognition,” one attorney told The Gateway Pundit. “If we start sentencing people to life for angry, edgy, political talk that’s not justice it’s persecution.”
Kelley’s life sentence is just the latest in a pattern of DOJ abuses. From pro-life protesters to Trump and Trump allies, the Justice Department has shown that it will stop at nothing to crush dissent, especially when it comes from veterans, conservatives, or Christians. Kelley, a man who served his country overseas, now sits in a federal prison based on rhetoric the government didn’t like.
The facts are not in dispute: no one was harmed; no attack occurred; no weapons or bombs were built; Kelley spoke angrily about the FBI after his home was raided; Kelley had already been pardoned. And now he’s sentenced to life in prison.
If you criticize the FBI or federal officials too harshly in private conversations you could face life behind bars, except if your name is James Comey.
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