SALT LAKE CITY — A Uinta Basin man was convicted Tuesday on all eight counts against him in a bench trial over whether he assaulted law enforcement during insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Odin Meacham, 30, of Myton, remains free. His sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 26.
The most serious charges he was convicted of – two counts of assaulting, resisting, and impeding certain officers, using a deadly or dangerous weapon – both carry up to 20 years in prison.
Video footage captured Meacham swinging a wooden pole at one officer, throwing a metal pole at another and trying to take a baton from a third officer, prosecutors wrote in pre-trial filings.
“The defendant, Odin Meacham, was a violent participant in the breach of the Capitol on January 6th,” prosecutors wrote in a trial brief. “On January 6th itself, the defendant was involved in numerous pivotal moments that allowed rioters to overtake police lines, breach the building, and halt the election’s certification.”
In their own filings, Meacham’s attorneys made technical arguments contending the government must show their client intended to injure officers and impede the certification. The defense also questioned whether the poles constituted deadly or dangerous weapons.
Judge John Bates, an appointee of President George W. Bush, issued the verdicts after two days of testimony.
Prosecutors say Meacham and his then-19-year-old nephew drove 30 hours to reach Washington for the Jan. 6, 2021, “Stop the Steal” rally. The nephew, Nejourde Meacham, was charged with nonviolent offenses stemming from the riot. According to court filings and an obituary, he died last year while awaiting trial.
A website shows Odin Meacham as an MMA fighter with a 6-1 record, although it lists his last fight having taken place in 2014.
Sixteen Utahns have been charged with crimes related to the insurrection. Odin Meacham is the fourteenth to have been convicted. There have been no complete acquittals.
