Enrique Tarrio, former leader of the neo-Nazi Proud Boys group, pleaded for mercy. “I’m 39 years old, give me another chance,” he pleaded with Judge Timothy Kelly. “I’m sorry for what happened and I apologize to the police,” he insisted.
Despite lowering the 33-year petition requested by the prosecution (“too long a sentence,” he said), the judge imposed 22 years in prison for leading the failed plan on January 6, 2021 to prevent the peaceful transition of the presidency. in the US and take away Joe Biden’s right to access the White House.
It is the harshest penalty of those handed down for this attempted coup. Judge Kelly, appointed by the former president, pointed out that he did not observe remorse in the prisoner, who after the assault on the citadel of democracy continued to boast of the crime and justify it with the great lie of Trump’s victory. Tarrio was not there that day, but he did conspire to get others to do the job. He did not attend because he was arrested days before for burning a banner of the Black Lives Matter movement next to a church in Washington and carrying a high-capacity rifle, which prompted a judge to force him to leave the federal capital.
His punishment follows the 18-year sentence handed down in May to Stewart Rhodes, head of the fascist Oath Keepers militia, Tarrio is the fifth Proud Boys to receive a harsh sentence. On Friday they imposed 18 years on Ethan Nordean and 10 on Dominic Pezzola, the only one of the five who was not convicted of sedition. Previously, Joe Biggs, Tarrio’s lieutenant, received a 17-year sentence, while Zachary Rehl, the former head of the gang in Philadelphia, received 15 years.
