A leader of the far-right American group Proud Boys was sentenced on Thursday August 31 to seventeen years in prison for the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington.
Prosecutors had demanded 33 years in prison for Joseph Biggs, a former soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, for having led some 200 members of the Proud Boys to the Capitol, the seat of Congress in the United States, in an attempt to prevent certification of Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump.
It is the second-heaviest sentence handed down by a US court in the case, but most legal commentators were expecting an even harsher sentence.
Judge Timothy Kelly took into account aggravating circumstances for acts of terrorism requested by prosecutors, but pointed out that he had set the sentence at sixteen years less than the requisitions on the grounds that the defendant “had not had the intent to kill”. The accused had previously expressed his regret, assuring that he was now disgusted with politics and any affiliation with a group.
In May, he was found guilty of six counts, including sedition, along with other Proud Boys leaders. Another defendant in this case, Zachary Rehl, against whom thirty years in prison were required, will know the quantum of his sentence during a hearing in the afternoon chaired by the same judge. Two more will follow on Friday, before group leader Enrique Tarrio on September 5.
The five activists were also found guilty of other lesser charges, such as obstructing the work of Congress or destroying public property.
“Right-wing foot soldiers who wanted to keep their leader in power”
Prosecutor Jason McCullough argued in court about the seriousness of the Capitol assault and the need for deterrent sentences. “There is a reason why we will have to hold our breath in the next election,” he said, claiming that the attackers had “wanted to intimidate and terrify” all who opposed them.
This day of January 6, 2021 “shattered our tradition of the peaceful transfer of power, one of the most precious things we had as Americans”, abounded the judge, insisting that those days were over.
Joseph Biggs spent more than two years in pretrial detention, including up to 10 hours in solitary confinement. “I believe he got the message,” pleaded his lawyer, Norman Pattis. “I know I did wrong that day but I’m not a terrorist,” Joseph Biggs, gray hair and beard, in an orange prison uniform revealing tattoos on his forearms, assured the stand, bursting in tears several times at the mention of her daughter and her mother.
In their written reasons in support of their submissions, prosecutors describe the defendants as “right-wing foot soldiers who wanted to keep their leader in power”, in reference to Donald Trump, who claimed that the election was “stolen from him”. “.
“Biggs spearheaded the January 6 attack,” calling the assault in a post-event podcast “a wake-up call” for the institutions, they said.
Hundreds of convictions
Since the January 6, 2021 attack, more than 1,100 people have been arrested and charged. More than half were sentenced, mostly to prison terms. The heaviest sentence to date, 18 years in prison, was given to the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, Stewart Rhodes.
In his written submissions to the court for Thursday’s hearings, Norman Pattis, who represents both Messrs. Biggs and Rehl, point out that it was only after more than hundreds of convictions of “ordinary citizens” that “the former President of the United States was indicted for his role in the events of that day”.
Donald Trump was indicted in August in federal court in Washington and in the state of Georgia (southeast) for his attempts to reverse the results of the 2020 election. those who had the most to gain from the disruption of the vote count on January 6, 2021 were the last to be prosecuted,” he said.
