Sentenced to 17 years

Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs sentenced to 17 years in January 6 case

By Hannah Rabinowitz and Holmes Lybrand

A leader of the Proud Boys who led the far-right organization’s infamous march to the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, was sentenced Wednesday to 17 years in prison – among the longest sentence handed down yet for a convicted rioter.

Joe Biggs was convicted by a Washington, DC jury of several charges including seditious conspiracy for attempting to forcibly prevent the peaceful transfer of power from then-President Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 election.

“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,” District Judge Timothy Kelly said in handing down the sentence. “People around the world would give anything for these rights.”

But January 6, Kelly said, “broke our tradition of the peaceful transferring of power” in the United States.