Federal judge dismisses Jan. 6 cases against four Proud Boys members

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump-appointed federal judge, granted the Justice Department's motion to dismiss the Jan. 6 prosecutions of Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola with prejudice. The decision follows a D.C. Circuit ruling that vacated the men’s convictions.

In a seven-page opinion, Kelly wrote that charging decisions are an executive function and that a court cannot compel the Justice Department to continue a prosecution it has chosen to drop. He emphasized that the court’s grant of the motion does not signal agreement with the executive’s policy.

The four men had been convicted of offenses ranging from seditious conspiracy to assaulting police and destroying government property. The Justice Department moved in April to vacate the convictions, arguing that it was “in the interests of justice” after President Donald Trump issued an executive order commuting sentences and granting pardons to several Jan. 6 defendants, including Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio.

Kelly noted that, because the appellate court had already erased the convictions, denying the dismissal would not revive them or require a retrial. He also condemned the Capitol attack, describing it as an assault on the Constitution’s peaceful transfer of power.

"Moving forward, if this Nation's experiment in self-government is to last another 250 years, the American people—no matter their partisan preferences—will have to act together to preserve, protect and defend that miracle through our constitutional framework," Kelly wrote.

The decision underscores the limits of judicial power in matters of prosecutorial discretion and reflects the ongoing legal repercussions of the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.