The Proud Boys walk towards the US Capitol in Washington in support of President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021. A federal judge has refused to dismiss an indictment against four alleged leaders of the United States. plot to attack the Capitol.
Carolyn Kaster / AP
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Carolyn Kaster / AP
The Proud Boys walk towards the US Capitol in Washington in support of President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021. A federal judge has refused to dismiss an indictment against four alleged leaders of the United States. plot to attack the Capitol.
Carolyn Kaster / AP
A federal judge has refused to dismiss an indictment that charges four alleged leaders of the far-right Proud Boys with plotting to attack the US Capitol to prevent Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election victory. .
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly on Tuesday rejected defense counsel’s argument that the four men – Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Charles Donohoe – were charged with First Amendment conduct protect freedom of speech.
Kelly said the defendants have many nonviolent ways to express their opinions about the 2020 presidential election.
“The defendants were not charged with anything such as burning flags, wearing black armbands, or merely participating in protests or sitting still,” Kelly wrote in the 43-page ruling. “Moreover, even if the alleged conduct had some expressive aspects, it has lost any First Amendment protection it might have had.”
Nordean, Biggs, Rehl and Donohoe were indicted in March on charges including conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding. All four of them remain in jail while they await a trial scheduled for May.
The defense attorneys also argued that the allegation of obstruction did not apply to their clients’ cases because congressional certification of the Electoral College vote was not an “official procedure.” Kelly disagrees.
Earlier this month, another judge in a federal court for the District of Columbia upheld prosecutors’ use of the same obstruction charge in a separate case against two riot defendants.
The case against Nordean, Biggs, Rehl and Donohoe is at the heart of an extensive Justice Department investigation into the January 6 uprising. More than three dozen people charged in the siege of the Capitol have been cleared by the authorities. federally identified as a leader, member or associate of the Proud Boys, including at least 16 defendants charged with conspiracy.
Last Wednesday, a New York man pleaded guilty to breaking into the US Capitol with members of the Proud Boys. Matthew Greene was the first Proud Boys member to publicly plead guilty to conspiring with other members to prevent Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote. He has agreed to cooperate with the authorities.
Other extremist group members have been charged with plotting to carry out coordinated attacks on the Capitol, including more than 20 people linked to the Anti-Government Oath Keepers.
Nordean, of Auburn, Washington, is president of the Proud Boys chapter and a member of the group’s national “Council of Elders.” Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Florida, is an organizer calling himself the Proud Boys. Rehl is president of the Proud Boys chapter in Philadelphia. Donohoe, of Kernersville, North Carolina, also served as president of his local chapter, according to the indictment.
Attorneys for the four men declined to comment on Tuesday’s ruling.
On the morning of January 6, members of the Proud Boys met at the Washington Monument and marched to the Capitol before President Donald Trump wrapped up his speech to thousands of supporters near the White House.
Just before Congress convened a joint session to certify the election results, a group of Proud Boys followed a crowd of people who broke through a barricade at the pedestrian entrance to the Capitol grounds, alleging status said. Several Proud Boys also entered the Capitol building after crowds smashed windows and forced them open.
More than 700 people have been charged with federal charges in connection with the Capitol riots. At least 165 of them pleaded guilty, most to misdemeanors that carry a maximum prison sentence of six months.
