Proud Boy who led US Capitol riot jailed for 18 years
ITV News Correspondent Robert Moore - who gained entry to the Capitol during the riots - reports on the sentencings of four key players in the January 6 attack
A one-time leader in the Proud Boys far-right extremist group has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in the the US Capitol insurrection, tying the record for the longest sentence in the attack.
Ethan Nordean was one of several members convicted of spearheading the attack on the Capitol to try to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election.
Nordean was “the undisputed leader on the ground on Jan 6,” said prosecutor Jason McCullough, who had asked the judge to sentence the Seattle-area chapter president to 27 years.
He was one of two Proud Boys sentenced on Friday. Dominic Pezzola was convicted of smashing a window at the Capitol in the building’s first breach on January 6, 2021, letting in rioters.
He defiantly declared “Trump won!” as he walked out of the courtroom after being sentenced to 10 years in prison, also among the longest sentences in the attack which killed five people.
The previous record for a sentence had been set by Stewart Rhodes, founder of another far-right extremist group the Oath Keepers.
The highest ranking Proud Boy convicted after a months-long trial earlier this year, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, is scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday.
Convicted Nordean now sees Capitol riot as a 'complete and utter tragedy'
Prosecutors said Nordean’s words and online posting grew increasingly violent leading up to January 6. On that day, he led a group of nearly 200 men towards the Capitol, then moved to the front of the mob and helped tear down a fence, allowing rioters to enter the grounds, according to court documents.
Defence attorneys have argued there was no plan to storm the Capitol that day and pushed back against the idea that he tore down the fence or that his rhetoric was specifically about the attack.
Nordean, 33, of Auburn, Washington, says he now sees Jan. 6 as a “complete and utter tragedy.”
“There is no rally or political protest that should hold value over human life,” he said. “To anyone who I directly or even indirectly wronged, I’m sorry.”
Two other Proud Boys convicted at trial were sentenced on Thursday. Joseph Biggs, an organiser from Ormond Beach, Florida, got 17 years, the second-longest sentence so far in the attack.
Zachary Rehl, a leader of the Philadelphia chapter, got 15 years - the third longest. The sentencings come after the Proud Boys trial that laid bare far-right extremists’ embrace of lies by Trump, a Republican, that the 2020 election was stolen from him.When the riot broke out, Biggs, Nordean, and Rehl stood back while others, including Pezzola, attacked police on the front line and pushed into the Capitol, prosecutors argued at trial.
The group were charged alongside Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio in May.
Tarrio had been arrested two days before the Capitol attack and, in his absence, tasked Biggs with leading the Proud Boys on the day of the riot.
Supporters of former US president Donald Trump stormed the Capitol in response to his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. The latter has repeatedly made unfounded claims that the vote was stolen from him.
Federal prosecutors had recommended a 33-year prison sentence for Biggs for coordinating dozens of Proud Boys members as they marched on the Capitol, broke police lines and forced politicians to flee.
District Judge Timothy Kelly said the attack trampled on an "important American custom", certifying the Electoral College vote.
"That day broke our tradition of peacefully transferring power, which is among the most precious things that we had as Americans," he said.
'My curiosity got the better of me'
Lawyers for the defendants argued that the Justice Department was unfairly holding their clients responsible for the violent actions of others in the mob.
Biggs acknowledged that he "messed up" on the day of the attack, but blamed being "seduced by the crowd" of Trump supporters for his actions.
"My curiosity got the better of me, and I'll have to live with that for the rest of my life," he said.
Pezzola apologised to the police officer he assaulted during the attack and said, "I never should have crossed the barrier at the Capitol that day."Speaking in court, his wife said she has faced online abuse for Pezzola's actions and added, "as I said on the stand, he's a f*****g idiot."
During the trial, jurors saw a trove of messages that Proud Boys leaders privately exchanged in the weeks leading up to the Capitol riot, including Biggs encouraging Tarrio to "get radical and get real men" after Trump announced plans for a rally on January 6.
Proud Boys members were among the first to breach the Capitol, with Biggs accused of acting as the "tip of the spear".
Biggs tore down a fence and climbed up scaffolding before entering the Capitol. He then left before reentering the building and making his way into the Senate chamber.
Prosecutors asked for a 30-year sentence to be handed down to Rehl, meanwhile, for his role in leading the Proud Boys.
He was videoed spraying a chemical irritant at police officers outside the Capitol, but repeatedly lied about his actions during his trial testimony.
Rehl also led at least three other men into a senator's office, where he smoked and posed for pictures while flashing the Proud Boys' hand gesture, prosecutors said in court documents.
During his trial, he told the judge that he regretted his actions from the attack, saying: "I'm done with all of it, done peddling lies for other people who don't care about me."
More than 1,100 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes, and over 600 have been convicted and sentenced.
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes received the strongest punishment for his involvement in Capitol attack, and was given an 18-year prison sentence in May.
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