Sentence to a higher death penalty for terrorism enhancement in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack: a case study of Enrique Tarrio

Enrique Tarrio, the former national chairman of the Proud Boys convicted for seditious conspiracy for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, will be sentenced Wednesday and could face the stiffest penalty doled out so far in the government’s massive prosecution of Capitol rioters.

The Oath Keepers founder was sentenced to 18 years for seditious conspiracy in a separate case.

Also set to be sentenced later Wednesday and later this week are Tarrio’s codefendants, fellow Proud Boys Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola.

Among the other charges Tarrio, Nordean, Biggs and Rehl were sentenced for are obstructing an official proceeding, conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging their duties, obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder and destruction of government property with value of over $1,000.Pezzola is well known for taking a shield from a police officer on Jan. 6 and using it to bash in a window at the Capitol. The window that was broken was used to enter the building.

The Department of Justice sought 33 years for the two people, one a military service member and the other a conspiracy theorist. They wanted a separate sentence for Rehl,Nordean and Pezzola.

The terrorism enhancement was decided upon by prosecutors, which leads to longer prison terms for their crimes, according to court documents. Lawyers for the government said that such an enhancement is justified as it “captures the nature and seriousness of the defendants’ criminal agreement and the danger posed by their conduct on January 6.”

“The defendants understood the stakes, and they embraced their role in bringing about a ‘revolution.’ Prosecutors said in their filing that they unleashed a force on the capitol that was calculated to exert their political will on elected officials by force and to overturn the results of the election. “The foot soldiers of the right aimed to keep their leader in power. They failed. They are not heroes; they are criminals.”

An attorney for Tarrio said such an enhancement is “a tool to punish Tarrio” because he went to trial rather than plead guilty. Further, his attorney argued “Tarrio was not even present at the scene in Washington D.C.; he did not direct his fellow members of Proud Boys or anyone else to assault people on the day in question or to destroy any government property.”

Tarrio had been taken out of the city because he set fire to a Black Lives Matter banner, but didn’t show up for the riot.

The case of the U.S. Capitol Police Officer Shea Cooney and her fellow cops, Michael Biggs, Bethe-Salpeter, J. Cooney, David K. Pezzola, Joshua J.

Ahead of the three days of sentencing hearings, the four defendants sat in court Tuesday to hear victim impact statements and to hash out final details of the case in front of the federal judge.

Two law enforcement officers who risked their lives to defend the Capitol and members of Congress were among those who shared their impact statements in person.

Tarrio, Nordean, Biggs, Rehl and Pezzola sat at the same table, dressed in orange prison garb, and remained stone faced as Officer Shea Cooney and United States Capitol Police Inspector Thomas Boyd addressed the court with emotional statements.

On Jan. 6, 2021, Cooney came face to face with Nordean and Biggs who ignored her commands to stop as they and other protestors poured into the West Plaza of the Capitol, according to court documents.

She said that some people beat her and her colleagues because they supported law enforcement. She and her fellow officers were later devastated to learn that a friend she worked with died and that other officers later died by suicide.

He became emotional when he spoke of the courage of his officers who, after fighting back rioters for hours on Jan.6, returned the next day ready to work.

“I was seduced by the crowd,” Biggs said of the mob in front of the U.S. Capitol. “Curiosity was the downfall of me and I will regret that for the rest of my life.”

The first of the five co-defendants in the Proud Boys case was sentenced to prison, indicating that similar penalties will be given to the other members.

Judge Kelly applied the enhancement to the charge of destruction of a fence outside the U.S. Capitol building. The mob didn’t keep the building from being protected by law enforcement.

The judge imposed a three years of supervised release, a ban on interactions with organizations that advocate violence against the government, and an order that Biggs not interact with organizations that advocate violence against the government.

While begging Kelly to allow him to be present for his daughter who was allegedly molested by a family member, who is now in the care of his mother, the man cried as he said he was not allowed to be present.