Socialites, check this out: The Proud Boy member who arrogantly smashed through a window to the US Capitol with a police riot shield on January 6, 2021, and allowed the first wave of rioters to storm the building was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison.
District Judge Timothy Kelly handed down the lengthy sentence during the hearing Friday. He said, “The reality is you were the one who did it. You were the one who smashed that window in and let people begin to stream into the Capitol building and threaten the lives of our lawmakers. It is not something I would have ever dreamed I’d see in our country.” The judge added, “You were really, in some ways, the tip of the spear.”
Now, after sobbing and pleading for leniency at his sentencing hearing in Washington DC on 1 September, Pezzola had a different kind of tune this Friday as he raised his fist and shouted “Trump won” as he has escorted out of the courtroom. Prosecutors had initially sought 20 years for him.
Mr. Pezzola joined the Proud Boys shortly before January 6, according to trial evidence. He was reportedly praised by the organization’s leadership for his violent actions at a separate rally weeks before the Capitol riot. Despite that, he was the only one of the five Proud Boys defendants not convicted of seditious conspiracy.
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Another Proud Boy, former chapter president Ethan Nordean, of Auburn, Washington, is also set to be sentenced Friday. Prosecutors are asking the judge to sentence him to 27 years. So far, more than 1,100 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 600 of them have been convicted and sentenced to time in the slammer or probation.
More On The Capitol Riots
As we previously reported, on January 6, 2021, following the defeat of President Donald Trump in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, the leadership of the Oath Keepers as well as the Proud Boys, along with two far-right militias, plotted to use force to stop the peaceful transition of power. They launched an attack on the United States Capitol Building.
Donald Trump has since been indicted on felony charges for working to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the violent riot by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol. The Justice Department wants to hold him accountable for an unprecedented effort to block the peaceful transfer of presidential power and threaten American democracy.