Former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio was sentenced Tuesday to 22 years behind bars in connection to the breach at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The sentence marks the longest to date in the Department of Justice’s handling of J6.
Tarrio, the son of Cuban immigrants, was found guilty of seditious conspiracy by a federal jury in Washington, D.C., back in May, and then sentenced by Judge Timothy Kelly. The former Proud Boy was facing 33 years behind bars.
“I am not a political zealot. Inflicting harm or changing the results of the election was not my goal,” Tarrio said before sentencing. “Please show me mercy. I ask that you not take my 40s away from me.”
Tarrio was notably not in D.C. on the day of the Capitol breach. Prosecutors, instead, argued that Tarrio was a leader and not a foot soldier, calling him “intelligent, charming, creative, and articulate” and claiming that he used those talents to “inflame and radicalize an untold number of followers.”
The government relied heavily on private communication from J6 defendants, sorting through hundreds of thousands of messages to try to make the case that Tarrio and others were guilty of this rare seditious conspiracy charge.
The seditious conspiracy law was enacted after the Civil War to arrest Southerners who might keep fighting the U.S. government, according to the Associated Press. It’s extremely rare in its application and hard to prove, though it’s been used by the DOJ about a dozen times in connection to the Capitol breach, rather successfully.
In one message used by the prosecution, Tarrio said, “Make no mistake … we did this.” The government also highlighted a document outlining a Capitol takeover that was sent to Tarrio on social media platform Telegram called “1776 Returns.” Tarrio did not directly respond to the sent document and claims he never even saw it, let alone opened it.
Defense lawyers maintained throughout the trial that there was not a single shred of written evidence to show that Tarrio conspired to stop the certification of the 2020 election.
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While the trial was ongoing, Tarrio said from inside a jail cell that the government was impeding on free speech rights.
“What they’re trying to do, what people are trying to do — and this is in general, I’m speaking in general — is manipulate how we talk to each other in the locker room,” Tarrio said in a Twitter spaces event hosted on April 25. “And it’s not fair. … It’s just not right. It’s not the justice system that you grew up in civics class learning about.”
Two other Proud Boy members, Joe Biggs and Ethan Nordean, have also been convicted of seditious conspiracy. Judge Kelly sentenced Biggs to 17 years years behind bars and Nordean was hit with 18 years. Another Proud Boy, Zachary Rehl, was also convicted of seditious conspiracy, was given a 15-year prison sentence by Judge Kelly. Moreover, two Oath Keepers who have been convicted of seditious conspiracy; Stewart Rhodes has been sentenced to 18 years, and Kelly Meggs to 12 years.
Overall, more than 1,100 people have been charged in connection to the Capitol breach, and hundreds have already been sentenced to prison time.