WASHINGTON — A federal judge has thrown out what remained of the government’s landmark prosecution against far-right Proud Boys members who were found guilty of seditious conspiracy for their roles in a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol and prevent the transfer of presidential power more than five years ago.
The case’s end on Friday was widely anticipated after Trump used his pardon authority last year to wipe out every prosecution stemming from the January 6, 2021 riot, when a crowd of his supporters stormed the Capitol building. The judge who oversaw the Proud Boys leaders’ trial found no legal grounds to uphold the convictions in the wake of Trump’s sweeping clemency action.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly — who was appointed to the bench by Trump during his first term in office — wrote that there is “little mystery” as to why the second Trump administration chose to abandon this case along with all other January 6-related prosecutions.
“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,” Judge Kelly wrote in his ruling.
Kelly was careful to note that his order dismissing the case should not be interpreted as support for the Justice Department’s choice to drop the charges. He described the Capitol riot as “a perilous event” and characterized it as an assault on the constitutional requirement that power be transferred peacefully between presidential administrations.
“Moving forward, if this Nation’s experiment in self-government is to last another 250 years, the American people — no matter their partisan preferences — will have to act together to preserve, protect and defend that miracle through our constitutional framework,” Kelly wrote.
Separate juries in Washington, D.C., had convicted leaders of both the Proud Boys and another extremist organization, the antigovernment Oath Keepers, of coordinating violent efforts to keep Trump, a Republican, in power following his loss of the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.
A separate judge has yet to rule on the Justice Department’s request to also dismiss the seditious conspiracy convictions against Oath Keepers members.
Friday’s dismissal covered four of the five Proud Boys members convicted at trial: Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola. Trump had commuted their prison sentences, but they were not included in the president’s broader mass pardon.
Former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio, who was convicted at the same trial, did receive a full pardon from Trump. Kelly had originally sentenced Tarrio to 22 years in prison — the longest sentence handed down in any Capitol riot case.
