The jury came back with a verdict and the Proud Boys aren’t happy with their decision. Guilty wasn’t a judgment the panel made lightly, they deliberated for a full week. The jury came to the conclusion that there’s a legal line in the sand when it comes to “seditious conspiracy,” and Enrique Tarrio crossed it. Along with three of his leaders. Sentencing comes separately, and could be stiff. There will likely be appeals.
Proud Boys found guilty
As reported by The Washington Post, “former Proud Boys chairman Henry ‘Enrique‘ Tarrio and three other leaders of the far-right extremist group were found guilty Thursday of seditious conspiracy in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.”
The high profile trial is over and they lost. No matter what your personal feelings are about the facts and circumstances which came to light, through weeks of grueling testimony, they don’t count. All that matters is what happened inside that jury room after all the lawyers got done arguing about it.
The jury spent seven long days locked together in a room and kicking around their concerns over what they had seen and heard in testimony. Tarrio and his Proud Boys lieutenants were found guilty on 31 of 46 counts. There were five counts which did not convince the jurors, “including acquitting one member, Dominic Pezzola, of seditious conspiracy.”
BREAKING: Four Proud Boys have just been found guilty of Seditious Conspiracy, the top charge, in a partial verdict related to the Jnaury 6th sedition:
Details:
On Count 1 which is "Seditious Conspiracy"
– Enrique Tarrio – Found Guilty
– Ethan Nordean – Found Guilty
– Joseph… pic.twitter.com/Uzw8wkwhSx— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) May 4, 2023
The remaining 10 charges couldn’t be resolved between them. Merrick Garland is grinning from ear-to-ear because he finally has something to claim as a victory. Other than that, everyone is howling for his head as complicit in weaponizing the government against the very citizens it’s meant to serve. Which is how the deplorable “extremists” got into trouble in the first place.
Thursday’s result “marked the third decisive victory for the Justice Department in three seditious conspiracy trials held after what it called a historic act of domestic terrorism to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election.”
That statement is a matter of opinion open to further fact checking. The Proud Boys weren’t the only ones convinced the Deep State stole the Oval Office right out from under rightful President Donald Trump. That too, is a matter of opinion, but one widely shared across conservative America today.
Standing on principle
Dressed for the occasion in a blue three piece suit, Tarrio “gazed at his relatives in the courtroom gallery as the verdict was read. The other men fixed their eyes on the jury foreman, and one gently clapped Pezzola on the back when his acquittal was read.”
Previously, after closing arguments, Tarrio made a rare comment on social media noting, “If the worst happens, we’re standing on principle.” The worst did, indeed, happen. The Proud Boys still have a solid rock of principle to stand on.
While he didn’t testify at the trial Tarrio did contradict “his defense team’s argument to jurors.” He doesn’t agree that he was being made “a scapegoat for Donald Trump and those in power.” It’s his opinion that he was being used as “the next steppingstone” to “get to” Trump, who is running again for president.
Proud Boys convicted of conspiracy, even though by the court’s own admission:
1. There was no plan to storm the capital
2. There was no plan to stop the certification
3. One of the defendants was in prison in a different city at the timeConvicted for an “UNSPOKEN” conspiracy.… pic.twitter.com/SQa64dOgQ5
— Harrison H. Smith (@HarrisonHSmith) May 4, 2023
The Proud Boys aren’t the only one making that observation. “They’re trying to get to the top and they’re trying to manipulate the 2024 election.” Things coming out in the news this week suggest that Joe Biden or a member of his criminal clan may soon be Tarrio’s cellmate.
District Judge Timothy J. Kelly informed everyone involved that sentencing is likely to be scheduled for August. Everyone, especially legal analysts, are pointing out the chilling effect this will have on conservative speech.
They note the Proud Boys’ convictions “on the historically rare and politically weighty crime of seditious conspiracy sent a necessary signal of deterrence to anyone who might seek to repeat or draw inspiration from that day’s political violence.“
