Four 'Proud Boys' convicted of seditious conspiracy for Jan. 6
Charges against them for conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding were also upheld.
A jury found four members of the Proud Boys organization guilty of seditious conspiracy for their participation in the events of January 6. However, the fifth member of the accused group was found "not guilty" by the court. The lawyers of the defendants denounced that their clients are being "used as scapegoats" for the incidents of that day.
The verdict states that Enrique Tarrio, Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean and Zachary Rehl, are guilty of seditious conspiracy under a Civil War-era statute. The fifth member to sit in the dock, Dominic Pezzola, was found "not guilty" of this charge. All of them arrived in federal court to answer for nine charges, although Pezzola was to face a tenth alone for the theft of a shield from a police officer that he used to break the Capitol's windows and gain access to its interior, as captured in several videos circulating on social networks.
Judge quashes charges on which jury failed to reach agreement
Tarrio, Biggs, Nordean and Rehl were also found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. Pezzola escaped this charge when U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly declared a mistrial in his case because the jury was unable to agree.
However, the jurors found Pezzola guilty alone of assault, resisting or obstructing the officers. The judge also dismissed other charges on which the jury did not reach an agreement.