In connection with their participation in the incident at the US Capitol on January 6, four members of the far-right Proud Boys, including its former leader Enrique Tarrio, were found guilty of seditious conspiracy.
Despite being found not guilty of seditious conspiracy, a fifth co-defendant was found guilty of other felonies.
The decisions were made following a trial that lasted over four months.
The maximum sentence for seditious conspiracy is 20 years in jail.
Each defendant was also found guilty of numerous other offences. The maximum term for obstruction of an official proceeding, which all five defendants were found guilty of, is 20 years.
In addition, they were found guilty of hindering police during a civil disturbance, conspiring to impede authorities from carrying out their jobs, and destroying a fence that guarded the Capitol.
In a complicated trial that took longer than expected, a mistrial was declared on a total of 10 charges against the men where the jury was unable to reach a verdict.
After the 2020 election, Proud Boys marched multiple times in Washington, DC, frequently squaring off with far-left anti-fascist protestors.
On January 6, 2021, when Congress was supposed to certify the election results, more than 100 members of the organisation were present. Since then, dozens have been detained.
The former Proud Boy chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio was not in Washington on that day, in contrast to his co-defendants.
He was detained two days prior to his arrest on suspicion of possessing weapons while also burning a Black Lives Matter flag. After receiving a judge’s order to leave the city, he watched the events from a hotel room in nearby Baltimore.
Ethan Nordean, 31, of Washington state, who goes by the alias “Rufio Panman,” was one of his co-defendants.
In the Pacific Northwest, Nordean participated in Proud Boy street marches and fights with anti-fascist demonstrators. He was seen guiding members of the group around the Capitol in a video taken on January 6 together with Joe Biggs, 38, of Florida, a co-defendant who is a former broadcaster for Alex Jones’ Infowars and a US Army veteran.
An further group who stormed the facility included 36-year-old Zachary Rehl, a former US Marine and the commander of the Proud Boys’ Philadelphia chapter.
A fifth defendant, Dominic Pezzola, 44, of Rochester, New York, who was at the time a relatively new member of the organisation and was also a former US Marine, seized a police officer’s riot shield and broke a window. He lighted a cigar in jubilation for being one of the first individuals inside the structure.
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He claimed, however, that he was acting alone and had never met his co-defendants before he testified in his own defence. The other defendants were found not guilty of the claim that they had taken the riot shield while committing assault on a police officer.
The others remained silent while Rehl testified in his own defence.
What kind of planning was done?
In order to demonstrate that the group’s acts constituted to a coordinated plot to try to derail the certification of the 2020 election result, prosecutors presented a sizable volume of text messages, social media posts, and films into court.
Numerous violent threats were repeatedly made online by The Proud Boys. For instance, Tarrio commented on a post by Joe Biden in November 2020 with the following statement: “YOU need to realise the American people are at war with YOU. Not Trump… No serenity. Never give in.
Others talked of the civil war, hangings, and “traitors” in their posts.
Slow jury selection, defence attorneys’ petitions for mistrial, multiple disputes over witnesses and evidence, and worries about potential juror intimidation all contributed to the trial’s length.
The mob was poorly structured, generally nonviolent, and there was no planned strategy to storm the facility, according to the prisoners’ attorneys.
They also mentioned that Tarrio, a seasoned police informant, had contact with the Washington, DC, police prior to January 6 and had shared the group’s day’s plans with an officer.
The defendants’ attorneys blamed former US president Donald Trump during closing arguments, claiming that their clients only followed Trump’s advice to appear on January 6th.
The commander in chief reportedly said, “Be there, it’s going to be wild. An attorney for Biggs, Norm Pattis, referred to one of Mr. Trump’s tweets and said, “And so they did.ork was declared not responsible for a seditious conspiracy.
Proud Boys: Who are they?
Gavin McInnes, a co-founder of Vice who left the media organisation to pursue a career as a right-wing commentator and podcaster, created The Proud Boys in New York City in 2016.
They identify as a “pro-Western fraternal organisation” or an all-male drinking club.
However, their frequent altercations with left-leaning anti-fascist activists in US cities are what made them more well-known.
Proud Boys from Portland, Oregon, boasted about arrests and street violence in a 2019 BBC documentary.
After the presidential debate in September 2020, they became well-known. In a conversation on radicalism, Joe Biden brought up the group. In response, Donald Trump said, “Proud Boys, stand back and watch.” In court, a video of the discussion was shown.
In a fruitless attempt to support their claim that their clients were merely carrying out orders from the president, defence attorneys tried to subpoena Mr. Trump.
The group’s national leadership has split since the Capitol incident, but local chapters have continued to function with a new emphasis on demonstrating outside drag shows and anti-transgender activities.
Seditious conspiracy: what is it?
A seditious conspiracy is defined by US law as a plot “to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States” or “to use force to overthrow the government.”
It is a rarely applied law from the American Civil War. In the first successful seditious conspiracy case since 1995, two leaders of the Oath Keepers, one of the other main organised organisations present at the Capitol riot, were found guilty last year. During the trial last year, three additional militia members were found not guilty of the accusation.
The sole crime officially mentioned in the US Constitution, treason, is more serious than seditious conspiracy and calls for a high standard of proof, such as the testimony of at least two witnesses in open court or a confession. The death sentence is another option for dealing with treason.
Another Proud Boy, Jeremy Bertino, who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and gave testimony for the prosecution, was a key component of the government’s case during the Proud Boys trial.
