Five members of the far-right Proud Boys, including former leader Enrique Tarrio, have been found guilty for their involvement in the January 6 US Capitol riot. Four of them were convicted of seditious conspiracy, and all five were found guilty of obstructing official proceedings, along with other felonies. The most serious charges carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison.
The Proud Boys, who were supporters of Donald Trump, had marched several times in Washington DC after the 2020 election, often clashing with far-left anti-fascists. On January 6, more than 100 members of the group joined the Capitol riot. The trial took nearly four months, with a mistrial declared on 10 charges where the jury failed to come to a conclusion. Enrique Tarrio was not in Washington that day but had been arrested two days prior for previously burning a Black Lives Matter banner and weapons charges. His co-defendants included Ethan Nordean, Joe Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola, who was found not guilty of seditious conspiracy.
Dominic Pezzola, a former US Marine and relatively recent recruit to the Proud Boys, was one of the first people to enter the Capitol building on January 6, where he took a riot shield from a police officer and smashed a window.
He was convicted of assaulting a police officer while taking the riot shield, while his co-defendants were found not guilty on that charge. During his own defense, Pezzola claimed that he acted alone and had not met his co-defendants before that day. Zachary Rehl, the leader of the Philadelphia branch of the Proud Boys, also testified in his own defense, but the others did not take the stand.
During the trial, prosecutors presented a large volume of text messages, social media posts, and videos to demonstrate that the Proud Boys’ actions were part of a coordinated plot to stop the certification of the 2020 election result. The group had posted multiple violent threats online, including references to civil war, firing squads, and “traitors.”
The trial was delayed due to slow jury selection, motions for mistrial by defense lawyers, disputes over witnesses and evidence, and concerns about possible juror intimidation.
The defense lawyers argued that the Proud Boys were poorly organized and mostly non-violent, and that there was no preconceived plan to storm the Capitol building. They also pointed out that Tarrio, who was a police informant, had informed a Washington DC police officer about the group’s plans for the day.
During closing arguments, the defense lawyers placed the blame on former President Trump, stating that the defendants merely followed his suggestion to show up. “The commander-in-chief said, ‘Be there, it’s going to be wild.’ And so they did,” said Norm Pattis, an attorney for Joe Biggs, referring to one of Trump’s tweets.
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