Former Proud Boys Leader Enrique Tarrio Receives Longest Jan. 6 Prison Sentence at 22 Years

The former leader of the Proud Boys was sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy for his role in the Capitol riot.

Summary

Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, the national chairman of the Proud Boys militant organization on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy for his role in the Capitol riot.

• Before his sentencing, Tarrio called the Jan. 6 riot, which a jury found he played a key role in orchestrating, a “national embarrassment.” His defense attorneys unsuccessfully argued that Tarrio was merely a scapegoat for Donald Trump, who they blamed for the riot.
• Tarrio insisted before his sentencing he was not a “political zealot” and that “inflicting harm…was not my goal,” marking the first time since the riots that he’s shown any public remorse for leading 200 men from afar in an attack on the Capitol.
• Federal judge Timothy Kelly imposed a sentence between the 15 years requested by the defense and the 33 years requested by prosecutors. “Mr. Tarrio was the ultimate leader of that conspiracy,” Kelly said. “Mr. Tarrio was the ultimate leader, the ultimate person who organized, who was motivated by revolutionary zeal.”
• Tarrio’s 22-year prison term is the harshest sentence imposed on any of more than the 1,100 people who have been charged in connection with the Capitol riot.

• The New York Times noted that Tarrio’s sentence surpasses the 18-year prison terms handed to Tarrio co-defendant Ethan Nordean in August and to Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers militia movement, in May. Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola, Tarrio’s other co-defendants, were each sentenced to prison terms of between 10-17 years last week.
• Axios pointed out that Tarrio was not physically present at the Capitol riot because he had been arrested days before Jan. 6 for vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner. Prosecutors successfully made the case that Tarrio retained command authority over the Proud Boys even after his arrest and he even took credit for the riot on behalf of the Proud Boys organization.
• Jon Lewis argued for CNN that “locking up the Proud Boys is only a first step.” Lewis argued that “There is little question that right-wing extremism, particularly white supremacist extremism, is currently the deadliest and most pervasive domestic terrorism threat facing the United States.” To counter this, Lewis urged the Biden administration to “move beyond antiquated, War on Terror-era approaches and acknowledge the new realities of the domestic terrorism threat.”

• The Wall Street Journal clarified why seditious conspiracy convictions carry such steep penalties: “Seditious conspiracy carries stiffer penalties than ordinary conspiracy and makes it illegal to conspire to use force to overthrow the government, impede its laws or seize its property.”
• Prosecutors unsuccessfully argued for a 33-year prison term, according to the New York Post. “We need to make sure the consequences are abundantly clear to anyone who might be unhappy with the results of 2024, 2028, 2032 or any future election for as long as this case is remembered,” federal prosecutor Conor Mulroe argued. “This was a calculated act of terrorism.”
• Tarrio begged the judge for leniency before his sentencing, according to Fox News. “Please show me mercy,” he pleaded, asking that the judge “not take my 40s from me.” The 39-year-old Tarrio will serve all of his “40s” (and his 50s) in federal prison.

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© Dominic Moore, 2023