Jury convicts Enrique Tarrio of the Proud Boys on seditious conspiracy charge : NPR
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
May 4, 202311:20 AM ET
Carrie Johnson
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Henry "Enrique" Tarrio, leader of the Proud Boys, shown here at a protest in support for Cubans demonstrating against their government in Miami on July 16, 2021. Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
toggle caption Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP via Getty Images
Henry "Enrique" Tarrio, leader of the Proud Boys, shown here at a protest in support for Cubans demonstrating against their government in Miami on July 16, 2021.
Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP via Getty Images
Former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio and three other members of the far right Proud Boys group have been found guilty of seditious conspiracy by a federal jury in Washington, D.C.
Jurors also convicted Tarrio and the others of obstructing an official proceeding, conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging their duties, obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder and destruction of government property with value of over $1,000 in one of the most important cases to date stemming from the siege on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Jurors failed to reach a verdict on seditious conspiracy as to one other defendant, Dominic Pezzola, who is well known for taking a shield from a police officer on Jan. 6 and using it to bash in a window at the Capitol.
Judge Timothy Kelly polled the jurors on the charges and instructed to return to deliberate on other counts for which they have failed to reach a verdict. He excused them at 11:13 A.M.
The verdict amounts to a significant victory for the Justice Department, which has now secured convictions against top leaders of both the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers for their roles in the attempt to keep former President Trump in power and stop certification of the 2020 election.
"Politics was no longer something for the debating floor or the voting booth," prosecutor Conor Mulroe told jurors in his closing argument last week. "For them, politics meant actual physical violence. ... And they liked it and they were good at it."
Tarrio and the other defendants, who have been held in federal custody in the course of the trial, face as many as 20 years in prison on the most serious charges against them.
Law
Proud Boys operated as fighting force for Trump on Jan. 6, prosecutors say
Former President Donald Trump has loomed over the trial like a shadow.
Both prosecutors and defense lawyers played the jury a video of Trump calling on the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by" during a presidential debate, a moment that made the club jubilant and produced a flood of new membership inquiries.
Lawyers for Tarrio, who spent Jan. 6 in a Baltimore hotel room, but who monitored the action from afar, argued he was a mere "scapegoat" for the Justice Department and a far easier target.
"It was Donald Trump's words, it was his motivation, it was his anger that caused what occurred on January 6 in your amazing and beautiful city," Hassan said. "They want to use Enrique Tarrio as a scapegoat for Donald Trump and those in power."
But prosecutors reminded the jury that after a mob overtook the Capitol that day, Tarrio sent a message that read, "make no mistake, we did this."
The sprawling case included 500,000 chat messages, video clips, podcasts and even a police riot shield. FBI special agents, police on the front lines on January 6, and former members of the Proud Boys who pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors made up the bulk of the Justice Department witness list.
Zachary Rehl, the former leader of the Philadelphia chapter of the Proud Boys, painted himself as a family man only to be confronted with video of him allegedly spraying law enforcement officers with chemicals.
Pezzola, who broke a window in the Capitol that other rioters used to pour into the building, told jurors he took responsibility for his mistakes that day, only to call the case "corrupt" in an outburst during cross examination.
Defense lawyers said there was not a scrap of written evidence that the men had conspired to stop the certification of the election by using force.
"There are no statements in any of those chats regarding stopping the transfer of power ... with or without force," Hassan said
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes convicted of seditious conspiracy in Jan. 6 trial
Nick Smith, an attorney for defendant Ethan Nordean, cited "nearly constant attempts to lure you into rendering a judgment based on anger" about the defendants' right-wing political views and inflammatory language.
The other defendant is Joseph Biggs, a former military service member who worked for the conspiracy site InfoWars. His attorney, Norm Pattis, told jurors many of the Proud Boys genuinely believed the 2020 election had been stolen.
"Why do I stress the president's role?" Pattis asked the jury. "He's not on trial here much though I wish he were. ... If my president tells me my republic is being stolen, who do I listen to: the thief or the commander in chief?"
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But they were just tourists.
an important judicial milestone, prior to jack smith's prosecution of the lead instigator, named by all these defendants.
"stand back and stand by"
Exactly.
that's so fucking awesome!
the lead inciter/instigator!
I suppose bed and breakfast at a federal prison would complete the experience.
Excellent news.
Next up the head of Trump's Jan 6th Insurrection!
which is the former 'president'
Indubitably!
I hope he gets the max
I agree. The guy and his buds and the fools in Oath Keepers are total scum.
[Deleted]
[SMFH...]
No I do not think that and if you can in any way shape of prove that I have, by all means please feel free to do right here and now. I am not now a Republican, nor I ever have been a Trump supporter. I do however dislike Biden and his minions much more than I dislike Biden. With that said, I will thank you not to be trying to put your words into my mouth.
[deleted] that said, it's no surprise that you, along with the trumpsters, dislike democrats more than convicted traitors, is it?
[deleted]
I hope "max" is his new cellmate in prison...
And I hope Max is the size of trojans he has to wear (but add super to max...do they make those?)
I hope the inciter in chief does too
... as in Supermax.
Even his lawyers are saying trmp instigated the riot
sedition, insurrection, and domestic terrorism...
[deleted]
Use a rug.
no rug big enough for that pile...
“Even his lawyers are saying trmp instigated the riot.”
Anyone with eyes to see, ears to hear, and a mind to think would come to the same conclusion.
The second the election results confirmed (without a doubt) his loss, he and only he sowed the seeds, spread the fertilizer, and tended the weeds that led to the 1/6 attempted destruction of our very democracy.
you would think but I think we're dealing with the low IQ sort
... the majority of which have proven they're too stupid to vote, twice.
sedition, insurrection, and domestic terrorism . . . oh my!
just another day in the repubiCON/CONservative world
The Miami Dade Republican executive committee has four Proud Boys on it and the Sarasota Republican party executive committee has a Proud Boy on it as well. Well, it is DeSantis's Florida.
I bet he's so proud!
The DOJ has now successfully prosecuted two groups of Trumpist Fascists for seditious conspiracy arising out of the January 6, 2021 insurrection. This is not over. The Jack Smith and Georgia investigations may come to a conclusion in the not too distant future. Stand by.
how many trumpsters are convicted traitors now, I've lost count...
Victim of [deleted?]
Excellent news.
Some still insist there was no insurrection. The only technicality they now have to support that view is that the people they're defending were too incompetent to pull it off.
That is self evident.
Incompetent is an understatement, sandy.