Sentencing of two ex-Proud Boys leaders postponed

investing.com:

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The sentencing hearings for two former leaders of the right-wing Proud Boys who were convicted of seditious conspiracy and other crimes for the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by Donald Trump supporters were abruptly postponed on Wednesday after the judge called out sick, a court spokesperson said.

Former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio and another former leader, Ethan Nordean, were supposed to be the first of five Proud Boys to face sentencing this week, with three other co-defendants due to be sentenced on Thursday and Friday.

Nordean is now due to be sentenced on Sept. 1 along with co-defendant Dominic Pezzola, while Tarrio will be sentenced on Sept. 5 at 2 p.m. E.T., according to the court's public docket. The judge will sentence defendants Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehlon on Thursday, as planned.

Prosecutors will ask U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly to sentence Tarrio to 33 years in prison and Nordean to 27 years.

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

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.

Prosecutors also want the judge to agree to terrorism enhancement for Tarrio and his co-defendants — a move that has the potential to add roughly 15 years to a prison term.

«These defendants and the men in their command saw themselves as the foot soldiers of the