A United States judge has sentenced Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right Proud Boys group, to 22 years in prison for his role in the US Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
US District Judge Timothy Kelly’s sentence on Tuesday marked the longest prison term handed down to date for the attack on the US legislature. In announcing his decision, Kelly called Tarrio “the ultimate leader” of the January 6 conspiracy.
Tarrio, who was not in Washington, DC, during the storming of the Capitol building, was convicted in May of several charges, including seditious conspiracy, for his involvement in planning the events of January 6.
A mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the US legislature that day to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election that Trump lost to his Democratic rival, Joe Biden.
Many were motivated by the false claim put forward by Trump and his allies that the vote had been “stolen” from the Republican leader. Tarrio’s sentence comes after three fellow Proud Boys members, who were also found guilty of the rarely used seditious conspiracy charge this year, were sentenced last week to prison terms ranging from 15 to 18 years.
Another group member who was not convicted of seditious conspiracy was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday.
Last month, the Justice Department reported that more than 1,106 defendants had been charged in nearly all 50 US states, as well as in the District of Columbia, with the riot. More than 600 people have pleaded guilty to a variety of federal charges, while about 110 were found guilty at trial.
Federal prosecutors had asked the judge in the Proud Boys case to impose a 33-year prison sentence on Tarrio, who was not present at the Capitol on the day of the violence because another judge had ordered him to stay out of Washington, DC. But authorities accused him of helping set in motion and encourage the violence.
Lawyers for the Proud Boys had denied that there was any plot to attack the Capitol or stop the transfer of presidential power.
On January 6, 2021, dozens of Proud Boys leaders, members, and associates were among the first rioters to breach the Capitol.
The mob’s assault overwhelmed police, forced US lawmakers to flee the House and Senate floors, and disrupted the joint session of Congress that was meeting to certify Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory.
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