Former Proud Boys leaders could face longest sentences yet for US Capitol attack

investing.com:

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — A federal judge on Thursday will consider whether to impose the steepest sentences yet on two former leaders of the Proud Boys who stormed the U.S. Capitol seeking to overturn Donald Trump's 2020 election defeat, after a jury convicted them of seditious conspiracy.

Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to sentence Joseph Biggs to 33 years in prison and they are seeking a 30-year sentence for co-defendant Zachary Rehl. They are due to become the first Proud Boys convicted of seditious conspiracy to be sentenced for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.

Those recommendations exceed the longest sentence handed out so far over the assault by the former president's supporters on the Capitol, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was sentenced in May to serve 18 years.

Former Proud Boys Chair Enrique Tarrio and another former leader, Ethan Nordean, were scheduled for sentencing on Wednesday but their hearings were postponed after the judge called out sick.

The attack was meant to stop Congress from certifying Democratic President Joe Biden's election, which Trump falsely claims was the result of widespread fraud.

Trump currently holds a wide lead in the race for the Republican nomination to challenge Biden in 2024.

TERRORISM ENHANCEMENT

Prosecutors also asked U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly to agree to a terrorism enhancement — a move that has the potential to add roughly 15 years to a prison term.

«Biggs viewed himself and his movement as a second American revolution where he and the other 'patriots' would retake the government by force,» federal prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo.

Rehl, meanwhile, «spent his time as president of the Philadelphia Proud