On September 5, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years to federal prison for his role in the January 6, 2021 coup attempt.    

But before he was hauled away by deputy U.S. marshals, Tarrio, 39, had his beg-a-thon moment with the judge who sentenced him: “On November 3, 2020, something that I never expected happened—my candidate lost. I felt like something was personally stolen from me.

“Every media channel that I turned to told me I was justified.” 

Enrique Tarrio

He claimed that he was “not a political zealot” and denied that changing the outcome of the election was his goal on January 6. 

Tarrio wasn’t in Washington on January 6. He had been arrested on January 4 in a separate case. Still, he was convicted for organizing the Proud Boys’ role in the riot and for encouraging the violence that interrupted the counting of Electoral College votes.

Wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and escorted by deputy U.S. marshals, he blamed himself and apologized to the officers who were injured during the riot—of which he was a proud instigator. 

“Today I stand before you a different man… I wish to reorient my life’s purpose… I want to rejoin my local church and be an active part of helping others. I hope your honor can hear the sincerity. Please show me mercy. Do not take my 40s from me. God bless this entire court.” 

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly wasn’t buying it:

“That day broke our previously unbroken tradition of the peaceful transfer of power, which is truly among the most precious things that we had as Americans. That previously unbroken string is now broken. And it’s going to take time and effort to fix it.”

Capitol Police facing off with Stormtrumpers

Kelly was especially disturbed by Tarrio’s comparing the January 6 traitors to the country’s Founding Fathers:

“You apologized here today, but I must say, comparing what Dominic Pezzola [another Proud Boys member who attacked the Capitol Building] did to George Washington—the man who helped encourage the notion of a peaceful, orderly transfer of power—by relinquishing power to let someone else be chosen. It slanders the father of our country.”

Just as Zachary Rehl’s lawyer had found excuses for his client’s treasonous behavior, so, too, did Tarrio’s legal team find excuses for his. 

According to them, Tarrio was simply a “misguided patriot” instead of a terrorist, and was simply being a “Keyboard Ninja, saying things he shouldn’t have.”    

Tarrio’s pleadings for leniency didn’t stop with himself. He also enlisted the aid of his aunt, godmother, mother, fiancée and younger sister. 

His aunt and godmother sent in letters pleading for leniency which were read by defense attorney Nayib Hassan.

“Henry [Tarrio’s birth name] is not a monster like he’s made out to be,” one letter read.

Stormtrumpers inside the Capitol Building

Tarrio’s mother, fiancée, and his younger sister also spoke of Tarrio’s character as they asked for leniency, saying his incarceration has greatly affected his family. 

“This mother stands before you today begging you for leniency for Henry,” his mother told Judge Kelly. “We need him home as soon as we can. The Henry that came into the system is not the Henry that’s here today.”

The younger sister cried as she spoke: “He is the glue that keeps us together. The idea of him not being around for all the milestones is hard to bear.” 

Apparently, it didn’t occur to Tarrio—when planning the January 6 coup attempt—that there might be consequences for his treason.

Tarrio’s fiancée said the couple wanted to start a family together and asked the judge to consider the “direct effect” a long prison sentence could have on those ambitions: “Henry is a flawed man, as are we all, but he is not blind to it.”

In getting a prison sentence of 22 years, Tarrio proved lucky: The Justice Department had asked for a sentence of 33 years.

Tarrio’s sentencing is the last in a series of historic seditious conspiracy cases brought by the Justice Department after the Capitol Building was attacked. 

“The Germans are always at your throat or at your feet.”       

So said former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill after Nazi Germany had destroyed most of Europe and now lay begging for mercy from its former victims.

And what held true for Germans after World War II holds equally true for Fascistic supporters of Donald Trump when they face justice for their crimes.

Nothing better demonstrates this than the reactions of three members of the notorious Proud Boys terrorist group at their sentencing on August 31.

Their crime: Seditious conspiracy for their role in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential election.

On January 6, 2021, they launched a violent attack on the nation’s Capitol Building to prevent the counting of Electoral College votes. That count—as they knew—was certain to establish that former Vice President Joseph R. Biden had won the 2020 Presidential election. 

Stormtrumpers scaling Capitol Building walls

Which meant an end to Donald Trump’s ambitions to become “President-for-Life.”

Self-described Proud Boys organizer Joe Biggs received a sentence of 17 years.

Biggs sobbed as he was sentenced. He pleaded for leniency to take care of his daughter and cancer-stricken mother: “I wanted to see what would happen. My curiosity got the best of me. I’m not a terrorist. I’m one of the nicest people in the world.”

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly wasn’t having it, saying that American elections must be respected: “You did play a role in riling up the crowd. If you don’t like how an election is being conducted, you can speak out, call, write or meet with election officials. You can engage in peaceful protest. File a lawsuit.’

The judge ruled that Biggs qualified for a terrorism sentencing enhancement because he tore down a fence that stood between police and rioters.

Joe Biggs

Biggs, a veteran who sustained a head injury while deployed in Iraq, worked for Alex Jones’ conspiracy website Infowars.

A second member of the group, former Marine Zachary Rehl, got 15 years in prison.

“I know that I have to be punished and I understand,” said Biggs, who then pleaded: “Please give me the chance, I beg you, to take my daughter to school and pick her up.”

He added: “I know that I messed up that day, but I am not a terrorist.”

Fortunately, the judge did not agree with him. 

“The nature of the constitutional moment we were in that day is something that is so sensitive that it deserves a significant sentence,” said Judge Kelly.

“Our Constitution and laws give you so many important rights that Americans have fought and died for and that you yourself put on a uniform to defend. People around the world would give anything for these rights.” 

Rehl, 37, of Port Richmond, Philadelphia. described Jan. 6 as a “despicable day” as he read from a prepared statement through tears. With his lawyer, Norman Pattis, consoling him, Rehl told the judge he fell “hook, line, sinker” for politicians spewing lies about the 2020 election, causing him to lose sight over what was truly important in life—his family. 

Zachary Rehl

A sobbing Rehl told the judge that he had lost his military pension and much more since his arrest: “For what it’s worth, I stand here today and say that I am done with all of it. I am done with politics; I am done peddling lies for other people who don’t care about me.”   

Rehl had a considerably different attitude on January 6, 2021, when he joined the mob that stormed the Capitol Building. Newly surfaced body camera footage shows him pepper-spraying police.

At his trial, confronted with that footage, he said he couldn’t recall attacking police during the attempted coup: “If you believe I did anything wrong that day,” he told the jury, “I really do truly apologize.” 

In the days prior to the coup attempt, Rehl advocated “firing squads for the traitors that are trying to steal the election” on social media.

After the riot, Rehl regretted that the mob hadn’t stopped Congress’ certification vote—which correctly documented that former Vice President Joe Biden had won the 2020 Presidential election.

“Looking back, it sucked,” he texted other members of the Philadelphia Proud Boys chapter on January 7. “We should have held the Capitol. Everyone shoulda showed up armed and took the country back the right way.” 

Reading that text in court, Judge Kelly was appalled: “I mean, my God. My God.” 

The January 6 coup attempt wasn’t Rehl’s first violent outing on Trump’s behalf. In 2018, he led a pro-Trump “We the People” rally outside Independence Hall that provoked violent clashes with anti-Trump demonstrators.

Norman Pattis, Rehl’s attorney, did his best to whitewash his client’s treasonous behavior: “If there’s a direct threat to democracy greater than an insurrection, I’d say it’s a stolen election. They decided to engage in behavior that reflected our highest ideals.”

He compared the Proud Boys’ actions to those of the Founding Fathers who took up arms to fight tyranny. 

He said that the 30-year sentence prosecutors sought “will not promote respect for the law. It will create a martyrdom syndrome.”   

The judge sentenced Rehl to 15 years’ imprisonment.