Two former Proud Boys leaders receive lengthy prison sentences

Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl received 17 years and 15 years, respectively, on Thursday from U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly. Biggs and Rehl are former leaders of the far-right Proud Boys group involved in the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The leaders received the second and third longest sentences concerning the violence at the Capitol. In May, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years.

What were the charges? Courts charged a group that included Biggs and Rehl with seditious conspiracy—a less common offense dating back to the Civil War era—among other crimes. Biggs used a megaphone to lead rioters in a chant before tearing down a fence and climbing scaffolding. Video footage caught images of Rehl spraying a chemical irritant toward law enforcement officers outside the Capitol. He then led at least three other men into a senator’s office, where he smoked and posed for pictures.

Dig deeper: Listen to Carolina Lumetta’s report on The World and Everything in It podcast about the indictment of former President Donald Trump regarding Jan. 6.