Proud Boys organizer Joe Biggs gets 17 years in prison, terrorism enhancement

WASHINGTON — A federal judge ruled Thursday it was an act of terrorism when a Proud Boys leader helped tear down a fence outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and said he would apply a significant enhancement that could add years to his likely prison sentence.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a nominee of former President Donald Trump, found the federal terrorism guideline did apply to Proud Boys organizer Joe Biggs. The guideline significantly increases both the offense level and criminal history scores of defendants and can result in a dramatically longer sentence.

Biggs, a U.S. Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient who previously worked for the conspiracy website InfoWars, was convicted alongside former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio and three other members of the group earlier this year of multiple offenses following a five-month trial. Those offenses included seditious conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding and, most importantly for the terrorism guideline, a felony count of destruction of government property for tearing down a black metal fence on the west side of the Capitol.

“I’ve reviewed the evidence of Mr. Biggs’ calculation and deliberation in taking down that fence,” Kelly said Thursday morning. “When that fence came down it facilitated the mob in overwhelming law enforcement, entering the Capitol and eventually halting the proceedings.”

Due to a last-minute cancelation of Tarrio’s sentencing Wednesday, Biggs was the first of the five Proud Boys to go before Kelly for sentencing. Although the judge issued his ruling on the terrorism guideline only as it applied to Biggs, he was likely to apply to same logic to the other defendants – who were all convicted of the same charge. One of the defendants, Dominic Pezzola, was also convicted of a second count of destruction of government property for breaking the Senate Wing window that created the first breach of the building.

Kelly is only the second judge to apply a terrorism enhancement in a Jan. 6 case, and is the first to apply the full guideline. U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta has applied various degrees of upward departures in multiple Oath Keepers sentencing hearings – applying the most significant one to the militia’s founder, Stewart Rhodes, who he sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Federal prosecutors have asked Kelly to sentence Biggs to 33 years in prison, and have sought similarly significant sentences for his co-defendants. As of noon Thursday, Biggs’ sentencing hearing was still underway. Kelly was scheduled to sentence another co-defendant, Zachary Rehl, Thursday afternoon. Hearings for Pezzola and a fourth defendant, Ethan Nordean, were scheduled for Friday. Tarrio’s sentencing was rescheduled for next week.