On Tuesday, September 5, 2023, Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, received a 22-year prison sentence, marking the lengthiest incarceration term issued as part of the Justice Department investigation into the January 6 Capitol insurrection. Prosecutors had initially recommended a 33-year sentence.
Henry “Enrique” Tarrio had been in custody since his arrest in 2022 and was found guilty earlier this year by a Washington, D.C. jury on various charges, including seditious conspiracy. Like his co-defendants in the case, Tarrio was not convicted on all counts he had faced.
Last week, his co-defendant, Ethan Nordean, was sentenced to 18 years. Tarrio’s sentencing was scheduled earlier but postponed due to U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly’s illness.
Tarrio was not present at the Capitol on January 6. Still, prosecutors in their sentencing papers described him as the “primary organizer” of the conspiracy for which he and his co-defendants were convicted. Prosecutors wrote that he used his outsized influence “to condone and promote violence” in others, adding, “He was a general rather than a soldier.”
His fellow defendants, including Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola, congregated alongside Proud Boys members during the riot and marched towards the Capitol. During this march, they disrupted law enforcement efforts and eventually breached the building where Congress was certifying President Biden’s election victory. Among these co-defendants, Pezzola was the sole individual not convicted of the most severe charge of seditious conspiracy during the trial. However, he was found guilty of using a stolen police riot shield to shatter a window at the Capitol.
“Make no mistake, we did this,” Tarrio wrote on social media during the riot, according to trial evidence.
“They came so close to succeeding,” the prosecutor warned. “There was a very real possibility that we were going to wake up on January 7 in a full-blown constitutional crisis with the federal government in complete chaos.”
Tarrio spoke and asked for leniency during Tuesday’s hearing. He said he was sorry for the events of January 6 and apologized to law enforcement and Washington, D.C., residents.
“The citizens of D.C. deserve better,” Tarrio said. “What happened on January 6 was a national embarrassment.”
He told the judge he had been angry because his candidate, Donald Trump, lost the 2020 election, and he continued to hear claims of a stolen election.
“To the men and women of law enforcement who answered the call that day, I am sorry,” Tarrio said.
“I am not a political zealot. Inflicting harm or changing the results of the election was not my goal,” he explained, “Please show me mercy.”
“An entire branch of government was brought to heel,” the judge said Tuesday. “That was all brought about in part by the actions of the defendant and his co-conspirators.”
Judge Kelly said in sentencing Tarrio that the evidence showed that “Mr. Tarrio was the ultimate leader, the ultimate person who organized, who was motivated by revolutionary zeal.”
“His not being present did serve some strategic purposes,” the judge said, “It did allow his lieutenants to rile up the crowd that day, and it did, from his perspective, insulate him…and distance himself from what in fact unfolded that day, and that is useful to someone as smart as Mr. Tarrio.”
“I don’t have any indication that he is remorseful for the actual things that he was convicted of,” Judge Kelly said.
Prosecutors effectively requested the judge to incorporate a terrorism-related enhancement into the sentences, asserting that the defendants had acted in retaliation against their government. Nevertheless, Judge Kelly decided not to let these considerations significantly impact the duration of the sentences he handed down.
“My client is no terrorist. My client is a misguided patriot,” Jauregui claimed in court Tuesday, unsuccessfully arguing that the judge should reject the terrorism-related enhancement.
Citing Tarrio’s Cuban-American heritage, another defense attorney, Nayib Hassan, told Kelly, “We talk s**t, and that is exactly what Tarrio was doing” in his rhetoric after the attack.
“He should keep George Washington out of it,” the judge shot back, denouncing Tarrio’s past comparisons of his co-defendants’ actions during the Capitol attack to the founders. On Tuesday, Tarrio referred to those allusions he had made as “a perversion.”
The 22-year sentencing of Enrique Tarrio, former Proud Boys leader, can be seen as justified due to his involvement in planning the January 6 attack on the Capitol and giving directions to his followers, despite being incarcerated at the time for his involvement in tearing down a Black Lives Matter flag. His actions were not only disgraceful but also posed a significant threat to our democracy.
This lengthy sentencing sends a clear message that individuals who actively participate in or incite such acts of violence against our government institutions will face the consequences of their actions, regardless of their leadership role or prior criminal record. It underscores the importance of upholding the rule of law and holding those responsible accountable for their actions in order to preserve the integrity of our democracy.
