Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio looks towards the sky as he leaves the D.C. Central Detention Facility where he had been held since September 2021, in Washington, U.S., January 14, 2022.
WASHINGTON--A jury on Thursday convicted four members of the far-right Proud Boys militia group including its former leader Enrique Tarrio of seditious conspiracy, finding they plotted to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a failed bid to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's election victory.
The verdicts after a trial lasting nearly four months in federal court in Washington handed another victory to the U.S. Justice Department, which Attorney General Merrick Garland said has secured the convictions of more than 600 people related to the Capitol rampage by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. Members of the Oath Keepers, another far-right militia, including founder Stewart Rhodes were previously convicted.
In addition to Tarrio, Proud Boys members Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl were convicted of seditious conspiracy - a plot to oppose the government with force - under a Civil War-era law. Conviction on the charge can carry up to 20 years in prison. Dominic Pezzola, the only one of the five defendants who did not play a leadership role in the Proud Boys, was acquitted of the charge. The 12-member jury, which deliberated about a week, also found Tarrio, Nordean, Biggs, Rehl and Pezzola guilty of other felonies including obstructing an official proceeding, a charge that also can carry up to 20 years in prison.
They also were convicted of conspiring to impede Congress from performing its duties and obstructing law enforcement during a civil disorder. U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly declared a mistrial on a few outstanding counts after jurors said they could not reach a consensus.
