A federal judge will sentence five defendants in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot this week to what could be decades in prison after they were convicted for their role in organizing the riot in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
The defendants, all leaders of the radical right-wing group Proud Boys, sat together in a Washington, D.C., courtroom Tuesday, clad in orange jumpsuits, as they listened to U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly weigh sentencing guidelines and whether to apply "terrorist enhancements" in his calculation.
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Prosecutors are seeking prison sentences that, if granted, would surpass the longest sentence of the roughly 600 handed out so far. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes holds the current record after receiving 18 years in May.
Four of the five defendants were found guilty in May of seditious conspiracy, a rare charge established during the Civil War, as well as conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, one of the same charges former President Donald Trump is now facing for his alleged illegal efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
All five were found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding, destruction of federal property, and interference with police during a civil disorder, among other charges.
Enrique Tarrio, who was not physically in Washington, D.C., on the day of the riot, is set to receive his sentence on Wednesday. Prosecutors are proposing a 33-year sentence for him.
The former national chairman of the Proud Boys, according to his indictment, had been heavily involved in organizing a large group for the riot but was arrested and ordered to leave D.C. a couple of days prior to it for burning a Black Lives Matter flag and carrying two large capacity magazines.
Court records reveal that during the riot, Tarrio shared messages to his tens of thousands of followers on the social media platform Parler that included telling those at the Capitol not to leave and calling them "revolutionaries." He shared a photo of apparently scared lawmakers hiding. In the days after, he posted messages that included "I'm not denouncing st" and "fk the system" in all capital letters.
The others will receive their sentences later in the week. Prosecutors are seeking 30 years for Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl, 27 years for Ethan Nordean, and 20 years for Dominic Pezzola.
The sentencing comes after a four-month trial during which a jury was presented with witness testimony, including from Capitol police, and evidence in the form of video footage, Telegram messages, social media posts, and more.
In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors argued that the defendants' "own words leave no doubt."
"They unleashed a force on the Capitol that was calculated to exert their political will on elected officials by force and to undo the results of a democratic election," they wrote. "The foot soldiers of the right aimed to keep their leader in power. They failed. They are not heroes; they are criminals."
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Defense lawyers opposed the lengthy sentencing recommendations, with one attorney noting that adding "terrorism" adjustments to the sentences was "radical" and would typically apply to "spectacular" acts of violence.
They warned that if the judge applied such a standard to the Capitol breach, then "any act of protest in the country … becomes a crime of terrorism."