DOJ wants 64-year-old Proud Boys 'probate' member to serve 6 months in prison in Capitol riot case

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors say a 64-year-old probationary member of the Proud Boys should serve six months in prison for entering the U.S. Capitol as part of the first wave of rioters on Jan. 6, 2021.

Jeffrey Grace, of Battle Ground, Washington, pleaded guilty in April to one misdemeanor count of entering and remaining in a restricted area. His son, Jeremy – with whom he entered the Capitol – pleaded guilty to the same charge in April and was sentenced to 21 days in prison.

Prosecutors say Grace, a former long-haul trucker, marched with other members of the Proud Boys as a probationary member, or “probate,” on Jan. 6 after traveling to D.C. with Travis Nugent – a fellow Washington state Proud Boy who was called as a witness earlier this year during the seditious conspiracy trial of former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio and four others.

According to sentencing memo filed by Grace’s attorney, assistant federal public defender J. Stephen Roberts Jr., Grace was part of a group that “later become a mob” and pushed through police barricades. Grace and his son entered the Capitol through the Senate Wing door approximately 10 minutes after the initial breach. While inside the Capitol, Grace’s son recorded several videos of the pair, including one taken of his father inside the Rotunda exclaiming, “It gets no better than this.”

Although the charge Grace pleaded guilty to is a class “A” misdemeanor that, in some Capitol riot cases, has resulted in a probationary sentence, prosecutors argued in a memo filed last month that Grace warranted six months in prison due to “numerous aggravating circumstances” – including the he destroyed evidence on his cell phone and falsely told the FBI his son hadn’t entered the Capitol and that he wasn’t associated with the Proud Boys.

Prosecutors said Grace had also attempted to profit off his participation in the Jan. 6 riot by launching a YouTube page titled “Our House USA” and selling clothing and other items emblazoned with phrases like “Our House,” which was chanted by rioters at the Capitol. In videos on his page, Grace bragged that he was wearing the hat he wore into the Capitol on Jan. 6 and claimed he “proudly, peacefully protested what everyone knows was a lie.”

Grace was granted pretrial release following his arrest, but was ordered to surrender his firearms after prosecutors flagged his participation in what they described as “pre-planned confrontations” in Portland, Oregon, and El Paso, Texas. In early August 2021, Grace was filmed carrying a firearm and a baton and shoving a counter-protester after traveling to Portland to provide "perimeter security” for musician and pastor Sean Feucht.

A month earlier, according to prosecutors, Grace traveled with a group from Washington to the U.S.-Mexico border, where he went out at night “in an effort to record individuals he suspected of illegally crossing into Texas.” Prosecutors said Grace was also armed on that occasion when he was confronted by police, although he was not arrested or charged with a crime in connection with either incident.

Grace’s attorney, Roberts, argued in his own memo that a time-served sentence for the one day Grace spent in jail following his arrest would be sufficient. He said his client had been compliant on pretrial release – other than what he described as “several hiccups” in August 2021 – and that a newly propose guideline from the U.S. Sentencing Commission that would reduce sentences for defendants without significant criminal histories, like Grace, should be considered.

Grace was scheduled to be sentenced Thursday at 10 a.m. by U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss.

In lieu of a time-served sentence, Roberts said a period of no more than 60 days of home detention and three years of supervised release would be sufficient.