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Published on January 21, 2025
President Trump Swiftly Commutes Sentence of Phoenix Veteran Convicted in Jan. 6 RiotSource: Wikipedia/Shealeah Craighead, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Shortly after taking the oath of office, President Donald Trump made the decision to swiftly commute the sentences of 14 individuals involved in the January 6, 2021 riot, among them Edward Vallejo of Phoenix, Arizona. Vallejo, an Army Veteran, was convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in the Capitol attack, as reported by 12 News. Initially sentenced to three years in prison and one year of home confinement, Vallejo's conviction was originally for overseeing a "Quick Reaction Force" that was poised to transport an arsenal of weapons into Washington if needed.

In an executive order signed mere hours after his inauguration, President Trump acted to go on to commute Vallejo's sentence, with Vallejo having been expected to be released in March. Vallejo was stationed at a Virginia hotel with stockpiled weapons as part of the Oath Keepers, a group known for its far-right ideologies. Though the weapons were never brought into play, discussions of "armed conflict" and "guerrilla war" were part of the case against him, according to information obtained from AZFamily.

Edward Vallejo's commutation has been set against the backdrop of several other Arizonans with roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection. Included among these individuals are Jacob Chansley, famed for his QAnon Shaman persona, who received a 41-month sentence, and Daniel Rodriguez, who faced charges for tasering a police officer. The Trump administration's recent pardons encompassed roughly 1,500 defendants, with both Chansley and Anthime Gionet, aka "Baked Alaska," already having served their sentences, as per 12 News.

At the time of the riot, Vallejo's involvement became one of Arizona's highest-profile cases with a conviction that included several charges, the most serious being seditious conspiracy. While the defense argued him to be a minor figure, the prosecution held that his preparation and rhetoric pointed to a greater intent. Vallejo was serving his sentence at a halfway house in Phoenix and was set to transition to home confinement following his anticipated March release, as AZFamily reported. His conviction had also included 36 months of supervised release, with the first year originally assigned to domestic confinement.