WASHINGTON (AP) – After almost three months of testimony, dozens of witnesses and countless legal fights, a jury will soon decide whether the onetime leader of the Proud Boys extremist group is guilty in one of the most serious cases brought in the January 6, 2021, attack on the United States (US) Capitol.
Closing arguments could be as early as this week before jurors decide whether to convict Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and four lieutenants of seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors said was a plot to forcibly stop the transfer of presidential power from Republican Donald Trump to Democrat Joe Biden after the 2020 election.
In a trial that has lasted over twice as long as expected, little new information has emerged about the January 6 attack that halted Congress’ certification of Biden’s victory or the far-right extremist group’s role in the capital riot. But a guilty verdict against Tarrio, who wasn’t even in Washington, DC when the riot erupted, would affirm that those accused of planning and inciting the violence could be held responsible even if they didn’t join in it.
The case is nearing a close as a new problem may be on the horizon for the Proud Boys, a group known for brawling and street fights with left-wing activists and disrupting storytelling sessions by performers and other events around the country.
The group, Tarrio and two others on trial are also facing a separate, multimillion-dollar lawsuit. A judge is poised to decide how much they should have to pay a historic Black church in Washington for Proud Boys destroying a Black Lives Matter sign during a weekend of pro-Trump rallies in December 2020 that erupted into violence. Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church is seeking up to USDS22 million in punitive damages, saying it was part of an effort to intimidate those who fight for racial justice.
Tarrio wasn’t in Washington on January 6 because he had been arrested two days earlier for his role in burning another Black Lives Matter banner torn down from a different Washington church, Asbury United Methodist. Tarrio was ordered to stay out of the city after his arrest.
The seditious conspiracy case in Washington’s federal court, which began with opening statements in January, has been slowed by bickering between the judge and defence attorneys, repeated requests for a mistrial, lengthy cross-examinations of witnesses and other legal manoeuvres that often kept jurors waiting in the wings instead of hearing courtroom testimony.
In the end, prosecutors managed to secure seditious conspiracy convictions at trials against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and five other members, but three others were acquitted of the charge.
Those others, however, were convicted of other serious felonies. Sentencings for Rhodes and other Oath Keepers are scheduled for next month.
When a Proud Boys member asked, “Are we a militia yet?” Tarrio responded with one word – “Yep” – in a voice note.
