The sentencing for former Proud Boys national leader Enrique Tarrio, who was convicted of orchestrating the far-right extremist group’s attack on the U.S. Capitol after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, has been delayed until next week because the judge hearing the case became sick, the Associated Press reports. Prosecutors are seeking 33 years behind bars for Tarrio, who had been scheduled for sentencing on Wednesday. That would be the longest sentence so far among hundreds of Capitol riot cases. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who postponed the sentencing shortly before it was to take place, isn’t bound by prosecutors’ recommendation when he sentences Tarrio in Washington’s federal courthouse, which sits within view of the Capitol. The sentencing for former Proud Boys chapter leader Ethan Nordean was also delayed Wednesday; it will now be Friday.
Kelly this week also was scheduled to sentence three other Proud Boys members who were convicted by a jury in May after a trial alongside Tarrio and Nordean. It’s unclear whether their hearings will be postponed, too. Tarrio had already been arrested and ordered to leave Washington, D.C., by the time Proud Boys members joined thousands of Trump supporters in storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as lawmakers met to certify Joe Biden’s election victory. But prosecutors say Tarrio organized and led the group’s assault from afar, inspiring followers with his charisma and penchant for propaganda. Tarrio was a top target in one of the most important Capitol riot cases prosecuted by the Justice Department. He and three lieutenants were convicted in May of charges including seditious conspiracy — a rarely brought Civil War-era offense that the Justice Department levied against members of far-right groups who played a key role in the Jan. 6 attack. His sentencing, now set for Sept. 5, caps one of the most significant prosecutions in the U.S. Capitol insurrection.
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