Sentencing for former Proud Boys chair Henry “Enrique” Tarrio on charges related to the deadly January 6, 2021 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol was postponed Wednesday due to the judge calling out sick.
The Department of Justice on August 17 requested a 33-year prison sentence for Tarrio.
Along with fellow former Proud Boys Joe Biggs, Ethan Nordean and Zachary Rehl, Tarrio was convicted of seditious conspiracy in May after a months-long trial began in January.
The DOJ is also requesting a 33-year sentence for Biggs along with 30 years for Rehl and 27 years for Nordean.
Prosecutors are further requesting a 20-year sentence for another former Proud Boys member, Dominic Pezzola, who was not found guilty of seditious conspiracy but was convicted of other serious crimes.
The Proud Boys’ March 7 indictment can be read here, and a June 6 superseding indictment can be read here.
All five defendants were found guilty of obstructing the 2020 Electoral College vote, which carries an up-to five years prison sentence, along with destruction of government property.
In their closing arguments on April 24, the prosecution had argued that the defendants—whom they called “Trump’s army”—stirred fellow Proud Boys toward violence in the lead-up to January 6 and directed them that day to attack the U.S. Capitol building.
In a court filing, DOJ prosecutors wrote that Tarrio and his co-conspirators “unleashed a force on the Capitol that was calculated to exert their political will on elected officials by force and to undo the results of a democratic election.”
The prosecutors added, “The foot soldiers of the right aimed to keep their leader in power. They failed. They are not heroes; they are criminals.”
Seditious conspiracy is defined as attempting to “overthrow, put down or to destroy by force the government of the United States.” It had been rarely prosecuted before January 6.
If U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly agrees to a 33-year sentence for either Tarrio or Biggs, it would be the longest sentence imposed on anyone convicted in the January 6 insurrection.
At least 1,125 people have been charged related to the deadly January 6 assault. A reported more than 500 of them have been sentenced, with more than half receiving prison terms ranging from a week to over 14 years.
Four people died during the insurrection, and five police officers died of various causes following the attack.
