Former Proud Boys leaders jailed for 17 and 15 years over US Capital riots | US News

Two former leaders of the American far-right Proud Boys group have been handed long jail sentences for their prominent roles in the US Capitol attack.

Joseph Biggs, a US army veteran who headed the group’s Florida chapter, was an instigator of the storming of Congress on January 6, 2021.

He was sentenced to 17 years in prison after a court heard he used his military experience to ‘direct and control large groups of men’ in a ‘revolt against the government’.

Zachary Rehl, who led the Proud Boys’ Philadelphia chapter, was handed a 15-year sentence.

Among the first wave of rioters to breach the Capitol, he helped overpower guards and was caught on video spraying chemical irritant at them.

The pair’s sentences are the second and third-longest to be handed down to anyone involved in the assault.

Five people died in connection with the riots, which also led to Donald Trump being impeached for incitement of insurrection.

After Trump gave a speech calling on supporters to ‘fight like hell’, hundreds marched on the building and broke through police lines.

The attack forced lawmakers to flee from a joint Congres session for certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.

Biggs and Rehl were convicted on charges of seditious conspiracy, which has only been successfully prosecuted a handful of times since it was created amid last-ditch efforts to stave off the American Civil War in the 1860s.

Biggs was also found guilty of intimidation or threats to prevent officials from discharging their duties and interference with law enforcement during civil disorder.

Rehl sobbed as he apologised for his actions, telling the court: ‘I’m done with all of it, done peddling lies for other people who don’t care about me.

‘Politicians started spreading lies about the election, and I fell for it hook, line and sinker.’

The Proud Boys’ top leader, national chair Enrique Tarrio, was due to be sentenced this week but his hearing was moved to Tuesday after the judge fell ill.

He was not in Washington during the riots, having been arrested two days earlier for allegedly defacing a BLM banner, but picked Biggs and another man, Ethan Nordean, to direct activities on the ground for him.

The defendants’ attorney Norman Pattis argued his clients were ‘misguided patriots’ who were unfairly being held responsible for the violence of others in the crowd.

‘What they’re guilty of is believing the president who said the election was stolen from him,’ he said.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, accepted this was a factor but said it was a ‘veyr modest one’.

He added: ‘That day broke our tradition of peacefully transferring power, which is among the most precious things that we had as Americans.’

Prosecutors had argued for 30 years’ jail each, but Kelly handed down much lighter sentences because, while he accepted their actions amounted to terrorism, this overstated the seriousness of their conduct.

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