Ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio faces lengthy prison sentence for Jan. 6 riot
Enrique Tarrio, the former national chairman of the Proud Boys convicted for seditious conspiracy for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, is set to be sentenced to federal prison today.
Tarrio's originally scheduled sentencing hearing was postponed last week after Judge Timothy Kelly fell ill.
Prosecutors want him sentenced to 33 years in prison for his role in conspiring with his lieutenants to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election results in Congress and to keep former President Donald Trump in power.
So far, Tarrio's co-defendants in the Proud Boys seditious conspiracy case have been sentenced to prison stays far shorter than what the government requested of the court.
Though Tarrio is considered one of the leaders of the plan to take over the U.S. Capitol, it's likely he will face a sentence in line with his co-defendants and fellow leaders of the Proud Boys.
Of the Jan. 6 rioters, the head of the Seattle chapter of the Proud Boys and Tarrio's co-defendant Ethan Nordean and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was convicted in a separate case, received the longest sentences so far with 18 years.
Nordean was sentenced last Friday.
Tarrio, Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl were all convicted for seditious conspiracy and other crimes in May. A fifth defendant, Dominic Pezzola, was acquitted on that charge but found guilty of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers and robbery involving government property.
Like Tarrio, prosecutors wanted to see Biggs get 33 years in prison. However, Judge Kelly gave him 17 years.
Tarrio was also convicted for obstructing an official proceeding, conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging their duties, obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder and destruction of government property with value of over $1,000.
Tarrio wasn't at the actual Capitol riot because he had been arrested days earlier for setting fire to a Black Lives Matter banner, stolen from Asbury United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., and was ordered out of the city.
Prosecutors say from a hotel outside of D.C., Tarrio directed his Proud Boys to attack the Capitol without him.
Tarrio's attorney have said he wasn't in contact with any members of the organization during the riot and pointed to Nordean and Biggs as being the orchestrators of the riot. Further, they said, "Participating in a plan for the Proud Boys to protest on January 6 is not the same as directing others on the ground to storm the Capitol by any means necessary."
Prosecutors also wanted to apply a "terrorism enhancement" to Tarrio and the others' cases, which leads to longer prison terms, given their crimes.
Judge Kelly did apply it to Biggs, Rehl, Pezzola and Nordean.
Tarrio's attorney has said in court filings that such an enhancement is "a tool to punish Tarrio" because he went to trial rather than plead guilty. [Copyright 2023 NPR]
