2 Proud Boys Sentenced, Express Regret for Capitol Riot

Joseph Biggs gets 17 years, Zachary Rehl 15 years
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 31, 2023 12:24 PM CDT
Updated Sep 1, 2023 12:03 AM CDT
First of 4 Proud Boys Leaders Gets 17-Year Sentence
In this file photo, Proud Boys organizer Joseph Biggs walks from the George C. Young Federal Annex Courthouse in Orlando, Fla., Jan. 20, 2021, after a court hearing regarding his involvement in the riot at the Capitol.   (Sam Thomas/Orlando Sentinel via AP)
UPDATE Sep 1, 2023 12:03 AM CDT

A second former leader of the Proud Boys was sentenced on Thursday for his role in the Capitol riot. Zachary Rehl received a 15-year sentence, hours after Joseph Biggs got 17 years. The AP reports that Rehl sobbed as he told US District Judge Timothy Kelly he regretted his actions. "I'm done with all of it, done peddling lies for other people who don't care about me," said Rehl, for whom prosecutors recommended a 30-year term. "Politicians started spreading lies about the election, and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker." Former Proud Boys Ethan Nordean and Dominic Pezzola will be sentenced Friday, and former top leader Enrique Tarrio is to be sentenced on Tuesday.

Aug 31, 2023 12:24 PM CDT

The first of four former leaders of the Proud Boys who were convicted of seditious conspiracy over the Capitol riot has learned his fate: Joseph Biggs was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Thursday, reports Politico. Prosecutors had sought a sentence of 33 years for the 39-year-old Biggs, who was convicted along with Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl, and the far-right group's former leader, Enrique Tarrio, of seditious conspiracy. Their sentencings await. Prosecutors described the men as key orchestrators of the violence in DC designed to keep Congress from certifying Joe Biden's election victory.

  • The judge: "That day broke our tradition of peaceful transfer of power," said US District Judge Timothy J. Kelly as he sentenced Biggs, per the Washington Post. "We don't have it anymore."
  • Biggs: "I know that I messed up that day, but I'm not a terrorist," Biggs told the judge. "My curiosity got the better of me, and I'll have to live with that for the rest of my life."
(Biggs' sentence is the second-longest to date over the riot, behind the 18 years given to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes.)

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