Edward Kelley, 36, of Maryville, Tennessee, has been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted on Nov. 20, 2024, following a three-day jury trial, of conspiracy to murder federal employees; solicitation to commit a crime of violence; and influencing a federal official by threat.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Kelley developed a plan to murder law enforcement, including agents, officers and employees of the FBI, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Maryville Police Department, Blount County Sheriff鈥檚 Office, and Clinton Police Department. The evidence showed that Kelley developed a 鈥渒ill list鈥 of law enforcement and distributed the list 鈥 along with videos containing images of his targets 鈥 to a co-conspirator as part of his 鈥渕ission.鈥
A cooperating defendant, who previously pleaded guilty for his role in the conspiracy, testified that he and Kelley planned attacks on the Knoxville FBI office using car bombs and incendiary devices appended to drones. He also testified that the conspirators strategized about assassinating FBI employees in their homes and in public places such as movie theaters.
At trial, the United States introduced recordings of the defendant calling for the development of a 鈥渃ourse of action鈥 related to his plan. In one such recording, the defendant gave the instructions to, among other things, 鈥渟tart it,鈥 鈥渁ttack,鈥 and 鈥渢ake out their office鈥 in the event of his arrest. Kelley was recorded stating, 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have time to train or coordinate, but every hit has to hurt.鈥澛
Assistant Attorney General John A. Eisenberg of the Justice Department鈥檚 National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III for the Eastern District of Tennessee, and Special Agent in Charge Joe Carrico of the FBI Nashville Field Office made the announcement.
The FBI鈥檚 Knoxville Joint Terrorism Task Force, which is comprised of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Casey T. Arrowood and Kyle J. Wilson for the Eastern District of Tennessee and Trial Attorneys Tanya Senanayake and Jacob Warren of the National Security Division鈥檚 Counterterrorism Section prosecuted the case.
Provided by the U.S. Dept. of Justice.
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