Federal judge dismisses remaining Proud Boys seditious conspiracy convictions after presidential clemency
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly threw out the remaining convictions of four Proud Boys members, citing the lack of a legal basis following President Trump's pardons and commutations related to the Jan. 6 attack.
A federal judge in Washington dismissed the remaining seditious-conspiracy convictions of four Proud Boys members who had been found guilty of plotting to disrupt the certification of the 2020 election results. The decision follows President Donald Trump's use of his pardon authority last year, which eliminated the prison sentences of the defendants and effectively nullified the government's case.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, wrote that there was “little mystery” about the administration’s choice to abandon the prosecutions. He noted that President Trump’s publicly expressed views on the Jan. 6 prosecutions are well known and that his intention to grant clemency was clear.
"President Trump's views about the prosecution of those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6 — whether those views are based on fact or fiction — are well known, as is his intention to extend clemency to them," Kelly wrote.
The judge emphasized that his order should not be read as an endorsement of the Department of Justice’s decision to drop the case. He described the Capitol riot as a serious breach of the constitutional principle of a peaceful transfer of power and warned that preserving the nation’s democratic system will require cooperation across partisan lines.
"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 ruling applies to Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola, whose prison terms were commuted by the president but who were not covered by the broader pardons. Former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio, who received a full pardon, had previously been sentenced to 22 years, the longest term in any Capitol-riot case. A separate judge has yet to rule on a related request to dismiss the Oath Keepers’ seditious-conspiracy convictions.