Judge OKs DOJ request to toss remaining Proud Boys Jan. 6 convictions

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A federal judge on Friday agreed to drop the remaining cases against four leaders of the right-wing extremist Proud Boys who were convicted for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

District Judge Timothy Kelly granted the Justice Department’s (DOJ) motion to dismiss the convictions against Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola. He did so with prejudice, meaning those charges cannot be tried again.

“Finally, it’s ALL OVER! January 6th can now be a thing of the past for me! Only one thing left!” Rehl wrote on social platform X late Friday.

Kelly wrote in a 7-page memorandum opinion that while he did not agree with the DOJ’s decision to abandon the prosecutions or President Trump’s sweeping pardon of rioters, the authority to make that determination rested with the president, not the court.

“Indeed, it is hard to see how any course other than granting the motion in full could make practical sense,” he wrote.

“Denying the motion would not somehow revive the convictions that the Court of Appeals vacated,” the judge continued. “Nor would denying it mean a retrial would follow, because the Court lacks the authority to compel the Executive to pursue a prosecution, full stop — but especially when an executive order explicitly requires that the Government seek dismissal with prejudice.”

Trump made good on a campaign promise when he pardoned and commuted the sentences of nearly off all the rioters who stormed the Capitol, including violent offenders, in an effort to stop the certification of former President Biden’s 2020 election win on his first day back in office last year.

The four Proud Boys leaders, three of whom were convicted on seditious conspiracy charges, were among the 14 individuals who had their sentences reduced for time served. Pezzola was acquitted of seditious conspiracy but found guilty of other serious felonies for breaking a Capitol window that allowed hundreds of rioters into the building.

Trump’s clemency also included Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader, who was tried alongside Biggs, Rehl, Nordean and Pezzola and received the longest prison sentence at 22 years.

“We took the worst they threw at us the raids, the solitary, the lies and we stood tall,” Tarrio wrote Friday on X. “Trump dropped the pardons and now the rest is crumbling. Justice is SERVED! Proud Boys don’t lose. We WIN. This is OUR victory.”

Kelly, a Trump appointee who presided over the months-long trials, noted that there was “little mystery” as to why the DOJ sought to erase the cases.

“President Trump’s views about the prosecution of those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6 — whether those views are based on fact or fiction — are well known, as is his intention to extend clemency to them through the Executive Order,” he wrote.

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DOJ

Dominic Pezzola

Donald Trump

Enrique Tarrio

Ethan Nordean

Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Joe Biden

Joe Biggs

Judge Timothy Kelly

proud Boys

Tarrio

Timothy Kelly

Trump administration

Trump pardons

Zachary Rehl

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