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☆ Proud Boys are seeking pardons directly from Trump, bypassing the DOJ and, potentially, Matt Gaetz
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-14 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The first Proud Boys leaders to seek Capitol riot pardons are instead asking Trump directly. Meanwhile, the Proud Boys want out now, and presidents have the Constitutional power to grant immediate pardons, Biggs attorney Norm Pattis said in a 10-page letter sent to Trump on Wednesday. Two years ago, Biggs and his Proud Boys codefendants had struck a different tone regarding Trump, arguing at trial that he incited the Capitol riot and that the Proud Boys were only following his orders. Advertisement"Mr. President, you are no stranger to prosecutions warped by partisan vendetta," the Biggs pardon letter says. Former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio will also "explore every possible avenue" toward early release, his lawyer, Nayib Hassan, said in a press statement last week.

Persons: Trump, —, Donald Trump, Joseph Biggs, Matt Gaetz, Tarrio, Gaetz, pic.twitter.com, gGPeTLtWmv, Biggs, Norm Pattis, Pattis, codefendants, Enrique Tarrio, Nayib Hassan, Zachary Rehl, Dominic Pezzola, Prosecutors, Pezzola, Mike Pence Organizations: Boys, Service, Department of Justice, Justice Department, Proud, Manhattan, Trump, Justice, DOJ, Capitol, Proud Boys, Tarrio, Rehl, Capitol Police Locations: Trump, Florida, Afghanistan, Iraq, Washington ,, Philadelphia, Rochester , New York

☆ For white-collar prisoners who just can't disconnect, $3,000 contraband cellphones can literally fall from the sky
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-08 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

White-collar criminals who can't disconnect are spending thousands of dollars on prison cellphones. Contraband phones go for $1,000 or as little as a few hundred dollars, depending on supply, at minimum-security camps, the so-called Club Feds. The stakes are particularly high for Wilson; his office continues to prosecute a violent, 90-defendant drug ring run by imprisoned people using contraband cellphones. The bureau urges Congress to pass the Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati Stopping Prison Contraband Act, which would upgrade the charge of smuggling contraband cellphones into a Federal prison from a misdemeanor offense to a felony, Murphy said. White-collar criminals tend to put their contraband phones to more benign uses.

Persons: —, Craig Roth, Joseph Degregorio, Degregorio, it's, Justin Paperny, Paperny, Martha Stewart, Scotty Carper, Carper, Ron Kuby, Norm Pattis, Alex Jones, Pattis, Alan Wilson, Wilson, Donald Murphy, Osvaldo Albarati, Murphy, Christopher Carr, hadn't, Rothfeld, I've Organizations: Service, Devens, National Institute of Justice, Fed, FCC Devens, Feds, Federal Communications, of Prisons, FCC, South Carolina, AGs, Prisons, Georgia's AG Locations: New Jersey, Devens , Massachusetts, Lewisberg, Pennsylvania, Alderson , West Virginia, Leavenworth , Kansas, Sacramento , California, Leavenworth, Manhattan, Georgia

Shroyer hosts a daily show called “The War Room With Owen Shroyer” for the website operated by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Shroyer didn't need to set foot inside the Capitol because many of his followers did, prosecutors argued. Political Cartoons View All 1154 Images“Shroyer helped create January 6,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing. Outside the Capitol, Shroyer stood in front of a crowd with a megaphone and yelled, “The Democrats are posing as communists, but we know what they really are: they’re just tyrants, they’re tyrants. Shroyer is one of two Infowars employees arrested on Capitol riot charges.

Persons: —, Owen Shroyer, “, Owen Shroyer ”, Alex Jones, Shroyer, Donald Trump, Shroyer didn’t, ”, Prosecutors, Trump's, Joe Biden, ” Shroyer, Jones, Jones hasn’t, Jan, antifa, Norm Pattis, Pattis, ” Pattis, Samuel Montoya, Montoya, Ashli Babbitt Organizations: WASHINGTON, U.S . Capitol, Prosecutors, Capitol, Republican, Democrat, Mr, Washington , D.C Locations: Austin , Texas, Washington, Infowars, United States, Washington ,

☆ Judge sentences ex-Proud Boys leader Biggs to 17 years over US Capitol attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Sarah N. Lynch | Thomson Reuters | Sarah N. Lynch Is The Lead Reporter For Reuters Covering The U.S. Justice Department Out Of Washington | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/2] A mob of supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump storm the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S., January 6, 2021. Ahead of his sentencing, Biggs apologized for his actions as he faced Kelly, choking up as he spoke about his daughter whom he said was a sexual assault victim who needs him. Together, Biggs and Rehl will become the first Proud Boys convicted of seditious conspiracy to be sentenced for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. Norm Pattis, an attorney for both Biggs and Rehl, asked Kelly to sentence his clients to a term that is below U.S. sentencing guidelines. In May, a jury convicted Biggs, Rehl, Tarrio and Nordean of seditious conspiracy, a Civil War-era law that makes it a crime to conspire to oppose the government by force, and other felonies.

Persons: Donald Trump, Leah Millis, Joseph Biggs, Donald Trump's, Timothy Kelly, Kelly, Jan, Biggs, “, ”, “ I’m, Zachary Rehl, Rehl, Stewart Rhodes, Jason McCullough, Enrique Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, Joe Biden's, Trump, Biden, Jack Smith, Norm Pattis, Pattis, Dominic Pezzola, Pezzola, Sarah N, Lynch, Scott Malone, Mark Porter Organizations: U.S, Capitol, REUTERS, Rights, Democratic, Republican, Prosecutors, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S

☆ Former Proud Boys leaders could face longest sentences yet for US Capitol attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Sarah N. Lynch | Thomson Reuters | Sarah N. Lynch Is The Lead Reporter For Reuters Covering The U.S. Justice Department Out Of Washington | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Proud Boys member Joe Biggs speaks during a rally in Portland, Oregon, September 26, 2020, before he was later arrested for his involvement in the storming of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington. Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to sentence Joseph Biggs to 33 years in prison and they are seeking a 30-year sentence for co-defendant Zachary Rehl. They are due to become the first Proud Boys convicted of seditious conspiracy to be sentenced for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. Former Proud Boys Chair Enrique Tarrio and another former leader, Ethan Nordean, were scheduled for sentencing on Wednesday but their hearings were postponed after the judge called out sick. Rehl, meanwhile, "spent his time as president of the Philadelphia Proud Boys trying to present a legitimate-looking front while behind the scenes amassing an army that was ready and willing to fight," they added.

Persons: Joe Biggs, Jim Urquhart, Donald Trump's, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, Stewart Rhodes, Enrique Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, Joe Biden's, Trump, Biden, Timothy Kelly, Biggs, Rehl, Jack Smith, Norm Pattis, Kelly, Dominic Pezzola, Pezzola, Sarah N, Lynch, Scott Malone, Mark Porter Organizations: U.S . Capitol, Washington . D.C, REUTERS, Rights, Boys, Democratic, Republican, U.S, Philadelphia Proud, Capitol, Prosecutors, Thomson Locations: Portland , Oregon, Washington ., U.S, American

☆ Connecticut law ending religious vaccine exemptions for children is upheld
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Michelle McLoughlin/File PhotoNEW YORK, Aug 4 (Reuters) - A divided federal appeals court on Friday rejected a challenge to a Connecticut law that ended the state's decades-old religious exemptions from immunization requirements for children in schools, colleges and day care. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said ending religious exemptions, while still allowing medical exemptions, was a rational means to promote health and safety by reducing the potential spread of vaccine-preventable diseases. He said many U.S. courts have reviewed vaccination mandates for children that lack religious exemptions, and only one, in Mississippi, has ever found constitutional problems. Five other U.S. states--California, Maine, Mississippi, New York and West Virginia--also lack religious exemptions. Connecticut's law, signed by Governor Ned Lamont, does not apply to children from kindergarten to 12th grade who previously had received religious exemptions.

Persons: Michelle McLoughlin, Denny Chin, Chin, Barack Obama, Ned Lamont, Joseph Bianco, Donald Trump, Norm Pattis, Brian Festa, William Tong, Lamont, Jonathan Stempel, David Gregorio, Leslie Adler, Deepa Babington Organizations: Pfizer, REUTERS, U.S, Circuit, Patriots USA, CT, Alliance, COVID, Patriots, Connecticut Office, 2nd U.S, Thomson Locations: Storrs , Connecticut, U.S, Connecticut, Manhattan, Mississippi, California , Maine , Mississippi , New York, West Virginia, 2nd, New York

☆ ‘Don’t freak out’: Notes from defense table during the Proud Boys seditious conspiracy trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Hannah Rabinowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

A note from the defense table during the Proud Boys seditious conspiracy trial. A note from the defense table during the Proud Boys seditious conspiracy trial. In one note, however, someone at the defense table took issue with prosecutors’ characterization of the Proud Boys marches. A note from the defense table during the Proud Boys seditious conspiracy trial. It’s unclear what the doodle refers to, though the Proud Boys have adopted the rooster as a symbol.

☆ Proud Boys defendants plan to subpoena Trump to force him to testify in their January 6 riot trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Lawyers representing the Proud Boys plan to subpoena Trump to testify in the January 6 trial. Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four other members have been charged with seditious conspiracy. "We're calling on Donald Trump to take the stand," a defense attorney said. Proud Boys' lawyers are seeking the federal government's help to serve the subpoena, according to Politico. Prosecutors have said that Proud Boys' members responded to Trump's calls to his supporters to come "protest" on January 6 when Congress met to certify the results.

Prosecutors began delivering opening arguments Thursday in the seditious conspiracy trial of former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four other members of the far-right extremist group involved in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. After the election, Tarrio posted on social media that the presidency was being stolen and vowed that his group won't "go quietly," prosecutors said. Tarrio, prosecutors say, was aware of discussions around a plan to storm the Capitol and was involved in discussions about occupying buildings, including in the Capitol complex. The group helped rile up the crowd on the day of the rally and successfully led rioters to break past police barricades and into the Capitol, prosecutors said. A protester, who claims to be a member of the Proud Boys, confronts police officers outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.

☆ Alex Jones said he was 'so stressed out' during his January 6 examination that he was unable to spell his own middle name correctly
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The January 6 committee released the transcript of its interview with Alex Jones on Wednesday. The far-right radio host pleaded the fifth to almost all of the questions asked by investigators. He also misspelled his own middle name, stating he was "so stressed out, I can't even spell it." an investigator, whose identity was redacted in the report, asked Jones. Jones later said on his radio show after the examination that investigators "were polite, but they were dogged."

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his company were ordered Thursday to pay an additional $473 million in punitive damages to families of the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre over promoting the falsehood that the 2012 school shooting was a hoax. Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families, told The Associated Press he hoped that the punitive damages awarded Thursday send a message to conspiracy theorists who profit from lies. Twenty children and six educators were killed after a gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and opened fire on Dec. 14, 2012. The Connecticut trial was the second related to his Sandy Hook conspiracy theories. In August, a Texas jury ordered Jones to pay nearly $50 million in damages to Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, whose son Jesse was killed in the massacre.

Nov 10 (Reuters) - Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones must pay $473 million in punitive damages for his defamatory claims about the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting, a Connecticut judge ruled on Thursday. On Dec. 14, 2012, a gunman murdered his mother, then killed 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School before killing himself. Some experts doubt the move will offer much protection for Jones’ assets, even if he is not able to pay the full judgments against him. The Sandy Hook families have intervened in the case, urging a judge to freeze Free Speech Systems' assets and investigate its finances. They claim Jones pulled $62 million from the company while burdening it with $65 million in “fabricated” debt.

☆ Alex Jones seeks new trial after $1B Sandy Hook verdict
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the 15 plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Jones, declined to comment on the filing Saturday, but said he and other attorneys for the Sandy Hook families will be filing a brief opposing Jones’ request. Twenty first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School died in the attack on Dec. 14, 2012. The verdicts came after another jury in Texas in August ordered Jones and his company to pay nearly $50 million in damages to the parents of another slain Sandy Hook child. A third trial over the hoax claims, involving two more Sandy Hook parents, is expected to be held near the end of the year in Texas. Pattis, Jones’ lawyer, wrote in the motions filed Friday that there was a lack of evidence directly connecting Jones with the people who harassed and threatened the Sandy Hook families.

☆ Alex Jones seeks new trial after $1 billion Sandy Hook verdict
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Alex Jones arrives at the court house as he faces a second defamation trial over Sandy Hook claims in Waterbury, Connecticut, September 22, 2022. Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the 15 plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Jones, declined to comment on the filing Saturday, but said he and other attorneys for the Sandy Hook families will be filing a brief opposing Jones' request. Twenty first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School died in the attack on Dec. 14, 2012. A third trial over the hoax claims, involving two more Sandy Hook parents, is expected to be held near the end of the year in Texas. Pattis, Jones' lawyer, wrote in the motions filed Friday that there was a lack of evidence directly connecting Jones with the people who harassed and threatened the Sandy Hook families.

An attorney for Jones, Norm Pattis, said in an email Friday that he is confident the verdict will be reversed on appeal. The families say they suffered a decade of harassment and death threats from people who believed the bogus claims. The Connecticut jury found Jones and Infowars parent company Free Speech Systems LLC should also pay punitive damages, which are set to be determined by a judge after several days of hearings next month. In their filing Friday, the families offered various methods of calculating punitive damages in similar cases. The Connecticut verdict came several months after a jury in Texas awarded two Sandy Hook parents $49.3 million in damages.

Infowars founder Alex Jones speaks to the media after appearing at his Sandy Hook defamation trial at Connecticut Superior Court in Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S., October 4, 2022. The plaintiffs were relatives of 20 children and six staff members who were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012. The families, meanwhile, suffered a decade-long campaign of harassment and death threats by Jones’ followers, attorney Chris Mattei said. The trial was marked by weeks of anguished testimony from the families, who filled the gallery each day and took turns recounting how Jones’ lies about Sandy Hook compounded their grief. In August, another jury found that Jones and his company must pay $49.3 million to Sandy Hook parents in a similar case in Austin, Texas, where the headquarters of Jones' Infowars conspiracy theory website is located.

☆ Alex Jones grilled by Sandy Hook families’ lawyer over hoax claims, doubles down on ‘deep state’ conspiracy
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Jones baselessly told his audience in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that the incident was staged. In the Connecticut case, where Jones is being sued by eight more Sandy Hook families, Judge Barbara Bellis issued a default judgment against the Infowars founder in November 2021 after he failed to comply with court orders. The attorney argued to the jury that the lies Jones told about the families of Sandy Hook victims were far more damaging than the commentary that had bothered Jones and prompted his legal action. Because the judge already ruled that Jones is liable, the jury is determining the amount in damages to award the plaintiffs. Norman Pattis, Jones’ attorney, has argued that the claims made by the Sandy Hook plaintiffs are “exaggerated.” Pattis has also said the Sandy Hook families have “become partisans” and said the defense will argue the harm has been overstated “because they want to silence [Jones] for political reasons.”

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