Five members of the Proud Boys, a far-right militia group, were criminally convicted Thursday for their role in planning the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol. Four of the five face seditious conspiracy charges. Their conviction marks one of the rare instances in which federal prosecutors have successfully pursued those charges, and they could be a warning sign for former President Donald Trump, who is under investigation for his role in inciting the insurrection.
The new convictions are the third time in the last year that a jury has convicted those involved in the insurrection of seditious conspiracy, which is defined as a plot involving two or more people “to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States … or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States.” Members of another right-wing militia group, the Oath Keepers, have also been previously convicted on the charge, as was an additional member of the Proud Boys.
Among those convicted Thursday on the most serious charge of seditious conspiracy were Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, as well as members Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, and Zachary Rehl. They face up to 20 years in prison. Another Proud Boy, Dominic Pezzola, was found not guilty of seditious conspiracy but was convicted of other charges, including assault.
Before the January 6 trials, the last time someone was convicted of seditious conspiracy was in 1995, though there have been several unsuccessful seditious conspiracy trials in the intervening years. The fact that the Justice Department has now been able to secure 14 total convictions on the charge is a major victory for the government and could be a big deterrent to far-right groups contemplating violence. It could also embolden prosecutors to seek criminal charges against Trump; ahead of the Proud Boys’ conviction, prosecutors worked to establish a clear nexus between the Proud Boys’ conduct and…
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