Urging the judge to apply a terrorism enhancement to the sentence, federal prosecutors submitted sentencing recommendations up to 33 years for the five members of the neo-fascist Proud Boys convicted of seditious conspiracy and other charges for their roles in the January 6th Republican-led domestic terrorist attack on Congress.
Per NBC News, prosecutors are seeking 33 years in federal prison for Enrique Tarrio and Joseph Biggs, 30 years for Zachary Rehl, and 27 years for Ethan Nordean. A fifth member of the group, Dominic Pezzola, was convicted of assault and other violent crimes, but not seditious conspiracy; prosecutors sought 20 years for him.
“A significant sentence is necessary ‘to afford adequate deterrence to criminal conduct’ by others,” the memo notes. “Here, the need to deter others is especially strong because these defendants engaged in acts that were intended to influence the government through intimidation or coercion—in other words, terrorism. And they were leaders of such efforts. Because these defendants not only contributed to the attack on the Capitol but helped to organize it, their sentences will be noted by those who would foment such political violence in the future.”