WASHINGTON—A New York member of the Proud Boys who used a stolen police riot shield to smash open a window on the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Sept. 1 by a federal judge in Washington.
Dominic J. Pezzola of Rochester was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly on seven criminal counts, including obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging any duties, obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, two counts of destruction of government property, assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, and robbery of personal property of the United States.
Mr. Pezzola was acquitted of seditious conspiracy in May after a more than four-month trial involving him and four Proud Boys co-defendants.
Judge Kelly’s sentence cut in half the prison term sought by the U.S. Department of Justice, even though he added a terrorism enhancement for two of the criminal counts. The DOJ sought 20 years, while Mr. Pezzola’s defense suggested five years would be more appropriate.
As he was being led from the courtroom after being sentenced, Mr. Pezzola raised a fist and shouted, “Trump won!”
Mr. Pezzola’s mother, daughters, and wife made emotional appeals to Judge Kelly for mercy during a more than 2.5-hour sentencing hearing.
Through tears, Mr. Pezzola’s wife, Lisa Magee, described financial hardships, how her children lost friends and family due to the Jan. 6 publicity, and how she can’t find gainful employment because of her husband’s actions.
“I can guarantee, if the court shows mercy to him, to my children, the court will never see this man again,” Ms. Magee said.
Mr. Pezzola apologized to his family and police for his actions on Jan. 6.
“I messed up,” he said. “There’s no place in my future for groups or politics whatsoever.” Mr. Pezzola called Jan. 6 the “worst, most regrettable decision of my life.”
‘Willing to Fight’
“In a journal entry recovered from a search of his residence that began, ‘There are many reasons why I want to join the PBs,’ Pezzola professed that he was ‘willing to fight until [his] last breath’ to prevent his children from inheriting what he said would be a communist country, emphasized his physical fitness and his ability to be anywhere at any time, and that he viewed the political situation as a ‘battle between good and evil’ requiring patriots to ’stand up and take back our God-given liberties just like our Founders did.'”The Senate Wing window that Mr. Pezzola smashed at about 2:20 p.m. on Jan. 6 became the first breach point into the Capitol. That act, according to prosecutors, merited a terrorism enhancement added to his sentence.
“Pezzola infamously smashed open a window to the Capitol with that riot shield, enabling the first breach by rioters of the Capitol building,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum. “He admitted on cross-examination that as he smashed open that window, he did so because he thought it was a way to get the government to listen to him.”
Prosecutors said only a long prison term would keep Mr. Pezzola from committing other crimes, citing an interview he gave after the jury verdicts in May.
Radical Leftist Jury?
“Pezzola continued that the jury was full of ‘all radical leftists, who were either [an] LGBTQ supporter or a BLM supporter ... these are the type of people who hate everything that we stand for, they hate the fact that we love God, they hate the fact that we love our country, they hate the fact that we love our family.’”
Pezzola and his attorneys called attention to what they said was the profusion of federal informants embedded in or reporting on the Proud Boys in early 2021. They filed motions during trial seeking to compel the DOJ to identify all “confidential human sources” at the Capitol on Jan. 6, suggesting there were more than 50 working for the FBI, Homeland Security, and other agencies.
In a supplemental sentencing memo filed with the court on Sept. 1, defense attorney Roger Roots accused the DOJ of targeting conservative Trump supporters while using a “soft touch” on leftist rioters in places like Portland, Oregon.
“In the 2-1/2 years following January 6, 2021, the government has treated pro-government (‘left-wing’) rioters—who generally seek more power for government, more censorship of ‘disinformation’ (as defined by government), more intrusive and expansive bureaucracy, higher taxes, and more government regulations of the environment, public health and commercial enterprise—with a fairly soft touch,” Mr. Roots said. “But the same federal prosecutors have pursued ‘right-wing’ rioters—who seek limited government, lower taxes, and less regulation—with extreme hostility and prosecutorial vindictiveness.”
