Proud Boys leaders face recommendations of 33-year sentences for Jan. 6 Capitol attack
Federal prosecutors have recommended harsh prison sentences for two top leaders of the far-right Proud Boys in connection with the seditious conspiracy charges stemming from the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. In a 155-page filing to Judge Timothy J. Kelly of the U.S. District Court in Washington, prosecutors requested that Enrique Tarrio, the former chairman of the group, and Joseph Biggs, one of Tarrio’s top lieutenants, be sentenced to 33 years in prison.
The recommended penalties are the harshest sought thus far in the sprawling investigation that encompasses over 1,000 people charged in relation to the Capitol attack. Prosecutors are seeking to strengthen the sentences by applying a terrorism enhancement.
According to the prosecutors’ filing, the defendants understood the gravity of their actions and willingly participated in what they believed to be a “revolution.” The prosecutors argue that their intent was to exert political pressure on elected officials through force, with the aim of overturning the results of a democratic election. In their filing, the prosecutors assert that the defendants and their associates are criminals, not heroes.
The government is also seeking tough sentences for the remaining three defendants in the case: Zachary Rehl, Ethan Nordean, and Dominic Pezzola. Prosecutors are requesting a 30-year prison term for Rehl, the former president of the Proud Boys chapter in Philadelphia; 27 years for Nordean, who ran a chapter in Seattle; and 20 years for Pezzola, a recent recruit from Rochester, N.Y.
All defendants, with the exception of Pezzola, were found guilty in May of seditious conspiracy. This criminal charge, rarely used, traces its origins back to the Union’s efforts to fend off secessionist rebels during the Civil War. To prove sedition, prosecutors must demonstrate to a jury that the defendants used force to oppose the authority of the federal government or the enforcement of federal law.
Previously, the longest sentence sought in a January 6-related case was the 25-year term recommended for Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of another far-right group, the Oath Keepers militia. Rhodes ultimately received a sentence of 18 years in prison.
The sentencing for the five Proud Boys defendants is set to take place at the end of August in the same courthouse. Norm Pattis, a lawyer representing Biggs and Rehl, objected to the government’s attempt to impose the terrorism enhancement, arguing that the defendants are not terrorists and that the recommended sentences are excessive.
However, the prosecutors contended in their filing that the five men played pivotal roles in the Capitol attack, leading the assault and contributing to the breach of four significant points of entry within the first 80 minutes of the riot. They asserted that no other group had a bigger impact on the events of January 6 than these defendants and those under their command.