DOJ Seeks 33 Years For Ex-Proud Boys Leader Enrique Tarrio Over January 6th

(AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)

Justice Department prosecutors are seeking a 33-year prison sentence for ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy in his January 6th.

Tarrio was convicted in May of conspiring with other members of his group to disrupt the presidential transfer of power during the attack on the U.S. Capitol building to keep Donald Trump in office.

The requested sentence would be the longest sentence given to any January 6th defendant since the DOJ began prosecuting individuals in the last two years. Tarrio was convicted alongside his top three lieutenants who helped him lead the right-wing group for years.

According to the Associated Press:

Tarrio, who was not at the Capitol riot itself, was a top target of what has become the largest Justice Department investigation in American history. He led the neo-fascist group — known for street fights with left-wing activists — when Trump infamously told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” during his first debate with Democrat Joe Biden.

During the monthslong trial, prosecutors argued that the Proud Boys viewed themselves as foot soldiers fighting for Trump as the Republican spread lies that Democrats stole the election from him, and were prepared to go to war to keep their preferred leader in power.

“They 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,” DOJ prosecutors wrote in a filing to the court on Thursday. “The foot soldiers of the right aimed to keep their leader in power. They failed. They are not heroes; they are criminals.”

Moreover, Tarrio’s co-defendants, Joseph Biggs, also face a 33-year sentence and a 30-year prison term for Zachary Rehl leader of the Proud Boys chapter in Philadelphia.