A Proud Boy member who played a prominent role in the Jan. 6 insurrection told jurors on Tuesday that he got “caught up in all the craziness” of the moment, Politico reports.
Dominic Pezzola, a Rochester man who was 43 when he was indicted in January 2021, is facing a multitude of charges in connection with the assault on the Capitol, including seditious conspiracy, assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, civil disorder, and robbery.
Prosecutors allege Pezzola smashed a Senate-wing window with a stolen police riot shield.
Pezzola acknowledged responsibility but denied being involved in a conspiracy during testimony on Tuesday.
“I’m taking the stand today to take responsibility for my actions on January 6,” Pezzola said, according to Politico.
“I’m also taking the stand to explain how these men over here that I’m indicted with should not be roped into my actions and to also explain how there was no conspiracy — that one never existed.”
Pezzola recorded a video celebrating the Capitol breach that prosecutors have presented as evidence in the seditious conspiracy case against him and four leaders of the far-right paramilitary group (Enrique Tarrio, Joe Biggs, Ethan Nordean and Zachary Rehl), the report said.
“The craziest damn thing is I never even knew these guys before I met them at the courthouse,” Pezzola said.
