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