By Sarah N. Lynch
Enrique Tarrio (pictured in 2020), the former leader of the far-right Proud Boys militia group, is one of four group members who has been found guilty of seditious conspiracy by a US jury. Photo: Elijah Nouvelage / Getty Images / AFP
A jury on Thursday convicted four members of the far-right Proud Boys militia group including its former leader Enrique Tarrio of seditious conspiracy, finding they plotted to attack the US Capitol on 6, January, 2021, in a failed bid to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's election victory.
The convictions after a trial lasting nearly four months handed another victory to the US Justice Department as it pursues criminal charges against more than 1,000 people arising from the Capitol rampage by supporters of Republican then-President Donald Trump.
Several members of another far-right militia group, the Oath Keepers, were convicted in earlier trials.
In addition to Tarrio, Proud Boys members Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl were convicted of seditious conspiracy - a plot to oppose the government with force - under a Civil War-era law. Conviction on the charge can carry up to 20 years in prison.
The jury also found Tarrio, Nordean, Biggs, Rehl and Dominic Pezzola, the only defendant who did not play a leadership role in the Proud Boys, guilty of other felonies including obstructing an official proceeding, a charge that also can carry up to 20 years in prison, as well as other crimes including conspiring to impede Congress from performing its duties and obstructing law enforcement during a civil disorder.
Nordean, Biggs, Rehl and Tarrio were acquitted on a charge of assaulting or impeding police, though Pezzola was convicted on that count.
The judge instructed the jurors to resume deliberations on some counts for which they had not reached a verdict.
Jurors did not reach a verdict on seditious conspiracy or conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding for Pezzola. They also were unable to reach a verdict for all the defendants on several other charges related to property destruction at the Capitol and assaults against law enforcement.
In addition, the jury remained deadlocked on a second assault charge against the five defendants tied to Proud Boys member Charles Donohoe, who threw a water bottle at police. Donohoe last year opted to plead guilty rather than go to trial.
Guilty pleas and convictions
More than 500 people have pleaded guilty to charges brought by the Justice Department related to the Capitol riot and about 80 others have been convicted during trials. These included Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and several of that group's members.
The trial of the Proud Boys members was the longest of any of those arising from the Capitol attack, with the 12-member jury in federal court in Washington hearing about 50 days of testimony since January.
During closing arguments, prosecutor Conor Mulroe told jurors that the Proud Boys viewed themselves as a "fighting force lined up behind Donald Trump and ready to commit violence on his behalf" in order to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
Prosecutors told the jury that Tarrio and the other defendants, some of whom led state chapters, purchased paramilitary gear for the attack and urged members of the self-described "Western chauvinist group" to descend on Washington.
Of the five members charged, all but Tarrio entered the Capitol during the attack, with prosecutors saying they were among the first to charge past barricades erected to protect the building. Tarrio was not in Washington that day, but prosecutors said he helped direct the attack from Baltimore after he was ordered by a judge to stay out of Washington following his 4 January arrest for burning a Black Lives Matter banner at a church.
The rampage occurred on the day when Congress was voting on formally certifying Biden's victory in the November 2020 election, with rioters attacking police with a variety of weapons. Shortly before the riot, the Republican Trump gave an incendiary speech to supporters urging them to go to the Capitol and "fight like hell" and repeated his false claims that the election was stolen from him throughout widespread voting fraud.
Five people including a police officer died during or shortly after the riot. More than 140 police officers were injured.
To mobilise, according to prosecutors, Tarrio, Rehl, Nordean and Biggs created what they called the Ministry of Self Defense, comprising about 65 Proud Boys members who exchanged encrypted messages.
Pezzola was also charged with robbery for stealing a police shield that prosecutors said he used to smash a window, allowing other rioters to enter the Capitol. He was convicted on that charge.
Defence lawyers told the jury their clients had no plans to attack the Capitol and had travelled to Washington merely to protest. The defence also sought to blame Trump, saying he was the one who urged protesters to descend on the Capitol.
"They want to use Enrique Tarrio as a scapegoat for Donald Trump and those in power," Tarrio's attorney Nayib Hassan said of the prosecutors during his closing argument to jurors.
- Reuters