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☆ Man Who Pushed Officer Over Ledge on Jan. 6 Is Sentenced to Six Years
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Ed Shanahan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Queens man who tackled a police officer and pushed him over a ledge during the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced this week to six and a half years in prison, court records show. The man, Ralph Joseph Celentano III, 56, of Broad Channel, was sentenced on Tuesday, according to court records. A jury convicted him last June on two felony counts — assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer, and interference with officers during a civil disorder — and several misdemeanor counts, court records show. He and other supporters of former President Donald J. Trump stormed the Capitol in a bid to prevent the certification of Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. A federal investigation into the day’s events is continuing.

Persons: Ralph Joseph Celentano III, Mr, Celentano, Timothy J, Kelly, Donald J, Trump, Joe Biden Organizations: U.S, Capitol, Justice Department, Federal, Court Locations: Broad, Washington

Dominic Pezzola, the rank-and-file member of the Proud Boys who led the charge into the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by shattering a window with a stolen police riot shield, was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in prison. It was only half of the 20 years that the government had requested and less than the punishment meted out to several rioters found guilty of assaulting the police. Mr. Pezzola, a flooring contractor from Rochester, N.Y., was the only one of the five men charged in the case who was found not guilty of sedition at the trial in Federal District Court in Washington. But the jury convicted him of six other felonies, including assaulting a police officer, a conspiracy to keep members of Congress from certifying the election and the destruction of one of the Capitol building’s windows. Despite telling Judge Timothy J. Kelly, who has overseen the Proud Boys sedition case, that he was remorseful and had given up on politics, Mr. Pezzola raised his fist before he was removed from the courtroom and shouted, “Trump won!”

Persons: Dominic Pezzola, Pezzola, Timothy J, Kelly, “ Trump Organizations: Capitol, Mr, Federal, Court Locations: Rochester, N.Y, Washington

Joseph Biggs, a onetime lieutenant in the Proud Boys, was sentenced on Thursday to 17 years in prison after his conviction on charges of seditious conspiracy for plotting with a gang of pro-Trump followers to attack the Capitol and disrupt the peaceful transfer of presidential power on Jan. 6, 2021. Mr. Biggs’s sentence was one of the stiffest penalties issued so far in more than 1,100 criminal cases stemming from the Capitol attack and among only a handful to have been legally labeled an act of terrorism. It was just over half of the 33 years the government had requested and just shy of the 18-year term given in May to Stewart Rhodes, the leader of another far-right group, the Oath Keepers militia, who was also found guilty of sedition. One of Mr. Biggs’s co-defendants, Zachary Rehl, is scheduled to be sentenced in front of Judge Kelly on Thursday afternoon. The Proud Boys — who had been fighting on the streets since 2017 for a range of far-right causes — became a central focus of the F.B.I.’s investigation into Jan. 6 within days of the Capitol attack.

Persons: Joseph Biggs, Stewart Rhodes, Judge Timothy J, Kelly, Enrique Tarrio, Biggs’s, Zachary Rehl, Judge Kelly, — Organizations: Trump, Federal, Court Locations: Washington

☆ 33 Years, Stiffest Jan. 6 Sentence So Far, Sought for Proud Boys Leaders
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Alan Feuer | More About Alan Feuer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Federal prosecutors recommended on Thursday that two top leaders of the far-right Proud Boys convicted of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol be sentenced to 33 years in prison, the stiffest penalties requested so far out of more than 1,000 people charged in the sprawling investigation. In seeking to severely punish the two Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, the former chairman of the group, and Joseph Biggs, one of Mr. Tarrio’s top lieutenants, prosecutors asked the judge in the case to increase their sentences with what is known as a terrorism enhancement. “The defendants understood the stakes, and they embraced their role in bringing about a ‘revolution,’” the prosecutors wrote in a 155-page filing to Judge Timothy J. Kelly of the U.S. District Court in Washington. “They failed. They are not heroes; they are criminals.”

Persons: Enrique Tarrio, Joseph Biggs, Tarrio’s, ’, Timothy J, Kelly, “, ”, Donald J Organizations: Capitol, U.S, Trump Locations: Washington

☆ Proud Boys 'did not stand back' as Trump once said but 'mobilized' on January 6, prosecutor argues in trial opening
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The trial of Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four other members opened Thursday. "Make no mistake…," read one text from Tarrio sent at 2:40 p.m. after rioters broke into the Capitol, according to prosecutors. "I'm proud as fuck at what we accomplished yesterday," read one message from Biggs, according to prosecutors. The DOJ also invoked comments made by Trump during a September 29, 2020, presidential debate, telling the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by" when he was pushed to condemn white supremacists and militia groups. "When it became clear that Donald Trump would be voted out of office," McCullough said Thursday, "these men did not stand back, they did not stand by, instead, they mobilized."

☆ The Proud Boys jury hasn't even been seated yet, and the defense already says it's biased
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The Proud Boys sedition-trial jury will be picked Monday, out of a pre-vetted pool of DC residents. The defense teams plan to make one last-ditch venue-change motion immediately after the jurors are seated, according to a person familiar with their strategy. "It's not surprising that these potential jurors knew something about the Proud Boys and January 6th, particularly since they live in DC," Suter told Insider. Those views included "preconceived beliefs that the Proud Boys are a 'dangerous armed group,' a 'hate filled group,' 'racists,' and other clearly biased views followed by assertions that they nonetheless can be fair." Defense lawyers are very likely spending the weekend pouring over any public records on the 45 or so prospects in the pool, Suter said.

☆ Proud Boys tried to get a sedition case tossed because too many of their potential defense witnesses would plead the Fifth. A judge said no.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Jury selection in the DC seditious-conspiracy trial of five Proud Boys leaders wrapped Friday. Two potential Proud Boys defense witnesses were also "intimidated" into silence when the federal government threatened prosecution, one of the four, Ethan Nordean, had argued. The Proud Boys are considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center; the Anti-Defamation League calls them a violent, right-wing extremist group. These and other extremism watchdog groups say misogynistic, Islamaphobic, transphobic, and anti-immigration rhetoric is common among Proud Boys members. "Tarrio suggests that the Court should infer nefarious activity simply from the number of potential defense witnesses who have claimed privilege," the judge also wrote.

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