The Department of Justice (DOJ) took steps to appeal the sentences of five convicted Proud Boys, including Enrique Tarrio, former leader of the group, in an effort to attain harsher punishments for those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach.
The penalties for the four individuals convicted of seditious conspiracy ranged from 15 to 22 years, with Mr. Tarrio receiving the longest term at 22 years. However, many of the penalties were significantly shorter than what prosecutors had requested.
But the Justice Department’s action is consistent with how it has dealt with other cases of similar actions in conjunction with the Jan. 6, 2021, breach, such as the Oath Keepers, whose members have also had their sentences appealed.
Mr. Tarrio and three of his associates were convicted in May of conspiring to block the transfer of presidential power, aiming to keep President Donald Trump in the White House after the 2020 election.
Prosecutors previously requested a 33-year sentence for Mr. Tarrio and one of his co-defendants, Joseph Biggs, a self-described Proud Boys organizer.
They also asked the judge to impose a 30-year prison term for Zachary Rehl, president of the Proud Boys chapter in Philadelphia; 27 years for Ethan Nordean, president of a Proud Boys chapter in Auburn, Washington; and 20 years for Dominic Pezzola, a Proud Boys member from Rochester, New York.
Mr. Tarrio, 39, wasn’t present in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, as he had been arrested two days earlier in a separate case and ordered out of the capital city. However, prosecutors alleged that he organized and directed the attack by the Proud Boys, who entered the Capitol that day.
Defense attorneys argued that there was no conspiracy or plan to attack the Capitol, portraying the Proud Boys as an unorganized drinking club whose involvement in the riot was a spontaneous act fueled by former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed with this argument in the case of the Oath Keepers, another right-wing group involved in the attack but still sentenced them to prison terms shorter than what the prosecutors had asked for.
Mr. Tarrio and his co-defendants were sentenced before U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly in a series of hearings that began later in the month in Washington’s federal court.
Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, was convicted of seditious conspiracy in a separate case and received an 18-year sentence, the longest at that point.
“They asked me to lie about President Trump in order to indict him,” he said. “I told them to pound sand, and because I refused to lie about President Trump, it cost me 22 years of my life.
“The truth is, I could have been home. I could have been home a long time ago. I could be in my warm ... bed right now, laughing at the world, without a problem ... and all I had to do in order to do that was lie about Trump. All I had to do was confirm a lie.”
Mr. Tarrio claimed that the DOJ first approached him about the cooperation pact in or around October 2022, well before Jack Smith was named as special counsel to probe President Trump.
“Everything they wanted me to say is fabricated,” he said. “This is how they are going to try to present evidence for Trump’s trial. ... Find a bunch of people that do not want to go to jail to make up a story just to avoid jail time.”
