Enrique Tarrio, former leader of the neo-Nazi group Proud Boys, asked for clemency. “I’m 39 years old, give me another chance,” he pleaded with Judge Timothy Kelly. “I’m sorry for what happened and I apologize to the police,” he insisted.
Despite lowering the request of 33 years requested by the prosecution (“too long a sentence,” he said), the judge imposed 22 years in prison for leading the failed plan on January 6, 2021 to prevent the peaceful transition of the presidency. in the US and take away Joe Biden’s right to access the White House.
Tarrio, head of the neo-Nazis, was not in Washington on January 6, 2021, but he is considered the brain
It is the harshest sentence of those handed down for that attempted coup d’état. Judge Kelly, appointed by the former president, pointed out that he did not observe remorse in the prisoner, who after the assault on the citadel of democracy continued to boast about the misdeed and justify it with the big lie of Trump’s victory. Tarrio was not there that day, but he did conspire to have others do the work. He did not attend because he was arrested days before for burning a banner of the Black Lives Matter movement next to a church in Washington and carrying a high-capacity rifle, which led a judge to force him to leave the federal capital.
His punishment follows the 18-year sentence imposed in May on Stewart Rhodes, head of the fascist Oath Keepers militia, Tarrio is the fifth Proud Boys to receive a harsh sentence. On Friday, Ethan Nordean was sentenced to 18 years and Dominic Pezzola was sentenced to 10 years, the only one of the five not convicted of sedition. Previously, Joe Biggs, Tarrio’s lieutenant, received a 17-year sentence, while Zachary Rehl, the gang’s former Philadelphia boss, received 15 years.
