FILE – Violent insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump, storm the Capitol, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File). Inset top: Joseph Biggs, a Proud Boys member convicted of seditious conspiracy, inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 (via FBI court filing). Inset bottom: Zachary Rehl is seen outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 (via FBI court filing).
The first Proud Boys members to be sentenced for plotting the violent Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol will serve almost two decades behind bars.
Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl were handed down sentences of 17 years and 15 years, respectively, by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly on Thursday. Those sentences come close to the longest sentence issued so far in the government’s wide-ranging prosecution of Jan. 6 rioters; Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, also convicted of seditious conspiracy, was sentenced to 18 years in May.
According to prosecutors, members of the Proud Boys — a self-described group of “Western Chauvinists” who gained national notoriety after then-President Donald Trump told them to “stand back and stand by” during a September 2020 presidential debate — had been planning for months to engage in violence in order to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral win.
According to courtroom reports, Biggs spoke at his hearing ahead of Kelly’s ruling. He reportedly told the judge that he has spent a lot of time thinking about the kind of person he wants to be and that the only organization he wants to be a part of going forward is his daughter’s PTA. He also said he’s tired of being in the so-called “Patriot Pod” at the Washington jail where several Jan. 6 defendants are being held.
Considering what is sufficient but not greater than necessary, Kelly sentences Biggs to 17 YEARS IN PRISON.
— Brandi Buchman (@Brandi_Buchman) August 31, 2023
At Biggs’ hearing, Kelly declined to impose a sentencing enhancement for terrorism, reportedly telling prosecutors that the 17-year sentence would have been the same with or without the enhancement.
Kelly sentenced the defendants to well below what prosecutors had requested — 33 years for Biggs and 30 years for Rehl. His sentences also fell below the sentencing guidelines range for both.
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“I wonder if I will ever sentence someone to 15 years below the guidelines in my career,” Kelly said at Rehl’s sentencing hearing.
Kelly say it is a serious sentence, then remarks: “I probably never in my life will approach this: this was 15 years below guidelines and 15 years below what govt requested. I wonder if I will ever sentence someone to 15 years below the guidelines in my career.”
— Brandi Buchman (@Brandi_Buchman) August 31, 2023
Like Biggs, Rehl spoke on his own behalf at Thursday’s hearing. According to reports, he called his role in plotting the violence that day a lapse in judgment, and said that he was “done peddling lies for people who do not care about me.”
Biggs and Rehl were convicted in May of seditious conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, and other crimes in connection with the Jan. 6 attack. Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and member Ethan Nordean were also convicted of seditious conspiracy and other crimes. A fifth co-defendant, Proud Boys member Dominic Pezzola, wasn’t convicted on the seditious conspiracy charge, but, like his co-defendants, was found guilty of conspiracy to prevent Congress or federal officers from discharging their duties, obstructing, impeding, or interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder; and destruction of government property.
The seditious conspiracy charge is widely considered to be the most serious charge to date against rioters who stormed the Capitol building on Jan. 6. The mob, spurred on by then-President Donald Trump’s repeated false statements that fraud affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, overwhelmed police trying to beat back the crowd and violently breached the building as Congress had begun to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral win. Lawmakers were forced to evacuate or shelter in place for several harrowing hours.
Kelly, a Trump appointee, is expected to sentence Nordean and Pezzola on Friday. Tarrio is scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday, Sept. 5.
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