After being found guilty for their participation in the US Capitol riot on January 6, five members of the far-right Proud Boys, including their former leader Enrique Tarrio, now face decades in prison.
According to the BBC, all five were found guilty of obstructing government operations and other felonies, and four of the five were found guilty of seditious conspiracy.
Penalties for the most serious offences can range up to 20 years in prison.
The all-male, far-right group included more than 100 members in the Capitol riot.
For conspiring to obstruct officers from carrying out their duties, obstructing officers during a civil disturbance, and destroying a fence enclosing the Capitol, all five defendants were found guilty.
After a protracted trial that lasted nearly four months, or more than twice as long as anticipated, a mistrial was declared on all ten charges brought against the men.
The Proud Boys were ardent Trump supporters who marched several times in Washington, DC, following the 2020 election, frequently squaring off against far-left anti-fascists.
On January 6, 2021, the day before Congress was supposed to certify the election results, their protests came to a head.
Former Proud Boy chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio was not in Washington on that day, in contrast to his co-defendants.
He was detained two days prior to his arrest on charges of possessing weapons while also burning a Black Lives Matter banner. After receiving a judge’s order to leave the city, he watched the events from a hotel room in nearby Baltimore.
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Ethan Nordean, 31, a co-defendant from Washington state who goes by the alias “Rufio Panman,” was one of Tarrio’s co-defendants.
In the Pacific Northwest, Nordean participated in Proud Boy street protests and fights with anti-fascist activists. He was seen leading members of the group around the Capitol in a video taken on January 6 along with Joe Biggs, 38, of Florida, a co-defendant who is a former broadcaster for Alex Jones’ Infowars and a US Army veteran.
An additional group that stormed the building included 36-year-old Zachary Rehl, a former US Marine and the leader of the Proud Boys’ Philadelphia chapter.
Dominic Pezzola, a 44-year-old Rochester, New York resident and the fifth defendant, was found not guilty of seditious conspiracy.
Pezzola, a former US Marine who had only recently joined the group, took a police officer’s riot shield and broke a window. He lit a cigar in jubilation for being one of the first individuals inside the structure.
