Proud Boys turned down plea deals that would have cut their prison sentences in half: court docs

Members of the Proud Boys militant group turned down plea deals that would have drastically cut down the sentences that were ultimately imposed, according to a new court filing.

Federal prosecutors offered shorter sentences to Proud Boys members Enrique Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola if they agreed to plead guilty to some of the charges they faced, but each chose to take their cases to trial and were all ultimately convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms, noted Lawfare editor Roger Parloff.

The government offered a plea agreement to Tarrio that would have resulted in nine to 11 years in prison, but a judge imposed a 22-year term after his conviction, while Nordean turned down six to eight years but got 18 years in prison, Biggs turned down six to eight years but got 17 years, Rehl turned down six to seven years and got 15 years, and Pezzola rejected four to five yeas but was sentenced to 10 years.

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Norm Pettis, an attorney for Biggs and Rehl, intends to argue on appeal that the disparities were an unconstitutional penalty on the militants for exercising their right to trial.

Some of the disparities are built into sentencing guidelines, Parloff argued, that give credit for acceptance of responsibility and for saving government resources.

Rehl took the stand on his own behalf, but the judge viewed some of his testimony as dishonest and took that into account at sentencing, Parloff said.

The sentences imposed after trial were generally shorter than federal prosecutors had sought, although Donald Trump and his allies have complained that the charges for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 were unwarranted in the first place.

Trump has also been charged by special counsel Jack Smith for his role in the Capitol riot.