Individuals who have been prominently involved with the far-right group the Proud Boys could face several decades in prison apiece after convictions on January 6 charges if prosecutors get their way. For former national leader in the group Enrique Tarrio, prosecutors asked for a whopping 33 years of jail — which would be the longest prison sentence by far imposed in connection to the violence at the Capitol, though judges have held back from reaching prosecutors’ recommendations in some of their earlier sentences.
Tarrio and several others connected to the Proud Boys, a group that former President Donald Trump was accused of essentially nodding to during a 2020 presidential debate with a comment to “stand back or stand by,” were convicted of seditious conspiracy. The somehow still sometimes present right-wing claim that what happened at the Capitol in some way wasn’t an “insurrection” in nature is disproved by the significant number of individuals, here and elsewhere, who have either been convicted of or pleaded guilty to the sedition offense. Others hit with the accusation were from the similar group the Oath Keepers.
Joseph Biggs, another Proud Boys defendant who faced accusations at one point of helping spur some of the very initial violence, should also receive 33 years, prosecutors argued. The lowest among prosecutors’ recommendations for any of the five defendants at issue was a proposal of 20 years of detention for Dominic Pezzola.
Sentencing proceedings for these individuals had been scheduled to take place on Monday, but the matter was abruptly postponed because of developments about which not many details were made publicly known. Sentencings were subsequently scheduled for Thursday, Friday, and next Tuesday, which will be September 5. Biggs will be sentenced on Thursday, and Tarrio next Tuesday — with the earlier proceedings potentially signaling how long Tarrio might face in jail.
Stewart Rhodes, founder and national leader of the Oath Keepers, was sentenced to 18 years in prison after his January 6 conviction that included seditious conspiracy.
Image: Anthony Crider/ Creative Commons
