Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and three lieutenants on Thursday were found guilty of entering a seditious conspiracy against the U.S. government which culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack.
Prosecutors painted Tarrio as the leader of the plot, despite not physically being in D.C. that day. Tarrio’s Jan. 4, 2021 arrest on unrelated charges and the stabbing of several Proud Boys at a December 2020 protest turned members of the group against D.C. law enforcement and served as motivators to stop the election certification, the government claimed.
But Tarrio’s attorneys argued that the Miami Proud Boy is the government’s scapegoat for the Capitol attack. The true culprit of Jan. 6, they said, was former President Donald Trump.
“It was Donald Trump’s words, it was his motivation, it was his anger that caused what occurred on Jan. 6,” Tarrio attorney Nayib Hassan said in his closing remarks. “They want to use Enrique Tarrio as a scapegoat for Donald Trump and those in power.”
Defendants Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl were also found guilty of sedition. The jury has not decided whether defendant Dominic Pezzola is guilty of sedition or conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who is overseeing the case, instructed the jury that they could return a partial verdict on any charges at any time. They are undecided on two charges for defendants Nordean, Biggs, Rehl and Tarrio, as well. The jury has returned to deliberations and could deliver another verdict at any time.
All defendants were convicted of obstructing an official proceeding, conspiring to prevent an officer from discharging their duties, obstruction of law enforcement and at least one count of destruction of government property. Pezzola was found guilty of a second count; the jury has not decided whether the other four are guilty of that count.
The Justice Department’s conviction of Tarrio and three others on the rare, Civil War-era crime bolsters its account that the Capitol attack endangered American law and order. The DOJ has now earned convictions on 10 of the 14 sedition cases it tried, including that of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes.
In the jury trial’s 15 weeks, heated legal disputes, regular bickering between attorneys and plain bad luck caused extensive delays to the proceeding that was once projected to last just six weeks.
The convictions
The five Proud Boys on trial were found guilty of combined charges, including seditious conspiracy. Here are the charges on which a D.C. federal jury found the defendants guilty:
- Enrique Tarrio: Guilty of seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging any duties, obstruction of law enforcement and destruction of government property.
- Ethan Nordean: Guilty of seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging any duties, obstruction of law enforcement and destruction of government property.
- Joe Biggs: Guilty of seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging any duties, obstruction of law enforcement and destruction of government property. Zachary Rehl: Guilty of seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging any duties, obstruction of law enforcement and destruction of government property.
- Dominic Pezzola: Guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging any duties, obstruction of law enforcement and destruction of government property and assaulting, resisting and impeding certain officers.
The acquittals
The jury found the Proud Boys not guilty of charges:
- Enrique Tarrio: Not guilty of one count of assaulting, resisting and impeding certain officers.
- Ethan Nordean: Not guilty of one count of assaulting, resisting and impeding certain officers.
- Joe Biggs: Not guilty of one count of assaulting, resisting and impeding certain officers.
- Zachary Rehl: Not guilty of one count of assaulting, resisting and impeding certain officers.
- Dominic Pezzola: To be determined.
