Ex-Proud Boys leader sentenced to 22 years for role in US Capitol attack

ZeroCool@feddit.ch to politics @lemmy.world – 400 points –
Ex-Proud Boys leader sentenced to 22 years for role in US Capitol attack
reuters.com
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It's good that he's going away for 22 years. However, the sentencing guidelines called for between 324 to 405 months (27-33 years) so by the Judge's own calculations this is a miscarriage of justice and yet another right wing domestic terrorist is being handled with kid gloves. Fucking disgraceful.

27 year minimum sentences are already insanity. If the justice system is supposed to be corrective rather than vengeful, there's nothing to be gained from these overly long sentences. No one's willingness to commit a crime is going to change with a 22 year sentence vs. a 33 year sentence, and the offender is no more likely to reform in years 23-33 than they were in years 12-22.

22 years is A LONG TIME. So long that they're almost certainly going to have fully adapted to prison life as "normal" long before it ends, and long enough that no one would ever consider it a reasonable cost for potential reward. Someone getting a two-decade sentence was entirely counting on not getting caught/charged.

The American system is built for punishment and profit. Most Americans don't seem to be interested in justice or rehabilitation, they just want blood. Good example is the 50 or so prisoners who have died in Texas from the heat, most weren't there for violent crimes or life imprisonment, yet the response to their death is mostly "whatever, they're bad people" as people show no interest in fixing anything.

... using Texas as an example about the entire USA is probably not a great choice.

Should we use the conditions of California prisons, which were so crowded that they were considered an unconstitutional human rights violation and prisoners were released by court order?

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I'm all for keeping him in there for longer, simply for the purpose of keeping him out of circulation. Doesn't hurt my feelings that he's going to be in his 60's before he gets out.

This. In ordinary cases, I might be for leniency / shorter sentences. However, these people are very dangerous. They are home-grown terrorists and a message has to be sent others who have similar ideas about civil war and/or insurrection in support of fascists like donnie. Keeping people like this out of civilization for a very long timeout is critical.

Yeah but if we were trying we could rehab this dude in like two years. Probation conditions and monitoring could keep him in check, not just him pretty much any convict.

I wonder if we could rehab the entire GOP in two years.

When it a group I think it's called reeducation, which is arguably needed.

These people's entire ideology is based on the lies of trickle down economics, rage culture, sexism, and racism. Whatever education they got, it wasn't enough to make them realize how stupid and incorrect their ideas are.

It's so neat seeing how sentences suddenly become too long when a rightwing bigoted piece of shit gets something approaching the guidelines.

I think most people who object to long sentences on here aren't doing it out of sympathy for these guys' political views.

People have been saying sentences are too long forever.

Being arrested and being held a few weeks changed my perspective on just how long jail/prison time is vs time being free. Those weeks felt like an eternity.

It’s both corrective, and preventative. Animals like that piece of shit shouldn’t be trusted to walk amongst the public.

22 years ago was 2001. So the equivalent time from 9/11 to now in prison.

Doesn't seem like enough to me. I mean I went from 30 something to 50 something, I still have life in front of me.

If your desire is for him to not have any life in front of him, then your goal for the prison system is neither to prevent crime nor to rehabilitate criminals. Just admit it's bloodthirstiness and execute the wrongdoers.

Attempting to overthrow the government should be a life term or near enough to it.

It helps that he can't vote for the next 5 presidential elections and on release will no longer be allowed to own guns, but 22 years doesn't seem like enough.

How long should he go in for?

A common maximum sentence in other countries is ~20 years (with exceptions for those who remain a threat to public safety after the standard period).

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/2/12/18184070/maximum-prison-sentence-cap-mass-incarceration

I just wonder what the rehabilitation plan is for someone like this. How do you bring a leader of a group like this back to being a normal citizen? And what will the alt right call it even if it were attempted? Liberal/Communist indoctrination?

That's pretty much in line with US stats

https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_sentences.jsp

... but some people do deserve more, of course

17% being >20 isn't really in-line. That's 1 in 6 prisoners.

...and 5 in 6 being < 20

I'm not saying it's perfectly in line but it's not one everyone in prison is doing life

You would expect most inmates, even in a retributive system, to not have done anything worthy of a max-length sentence. That most sentences are not two decades long doesn't really mean much. You'd expect that in any system short of North Korea.

The US is way out of the norm for its prison lengths and number of people imprisoned, because people like the retributive feel of long sentences. The >20 year sentences are entirely pointless, but the sentences below that are frequently for crimes that would never warrant such a long sentence elsewhere. Norway, which has a maximum sentence of 21 years, has an average incarceration length of 8 months. In the United States, the average incarceration is 63 months (5 years).

What I don’t get is who does he click up with? Are the whites going to take him? Is he white? Do they and will they break rules because of who he is? I ask these questions but in the end don’t give a shit I guess. Good riddance to this loser but yeah our prison system is quite fucked.

This would carry more weight if you cited sources for your statements. ;)

Science has known harsher sentencing is not a deterrent since the 80's. Breaking up families and communities causes intergenerational poverty and trauma, and as a result causes more crime. That's what they teach in criminology because that's what's proven by the science.

People who want harsher sentencing instantly reveal themselves as unserious about criminal justice or in any way reducing crime.

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If the reduced sentence allowed a swifter sentence, it may be a good thing overall, as this can now be used as precedent.

You can try to spin it as a "good thing" that the Trump appointed judge failed to deliver a sentence in accordance with the guidelines all you want. The fact of the matter remains Tarrio got off far too easy and by at least five years.

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He asked U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, "please show me mercy" and that he "not take my 40s from me."

Try 40s and 50s, and some your 60s, you traitor scumbag

Good. Let’s see what his daddy Trump gets. And good luck trying to get a pardon lol

I'm of the belief that it's never going to happen. He's an ex president, white, rich. The system was designed for him to get away with it. And even if he's find guilty, it'll be years of appeals, and he'll die of old age or a big Mac before he ever has to report to jail. Or he'll be pardoned by the next Republican president before he ever sets foot in jail.

I also believe the u.s government would never allow an ex president to end up in an orange jumpsuit. No matter who is president.

I don't agree at all frankly. I think for us to heal as a nation, he MUST be punished. This-could possibly be, quite literally, the biggest (series of?) crime(s) in American history. It cannot stand. And he cannot be pardoned in state charges. He also, technically, cannot hold office again due to the 14th amendment. It also sounds like there is still more charges to come and he's already looking at 91 felony charges.. people don't just get to walk away from this level of shit.

he’s already looking at 91 felony charges… people don’t just get to walk away from this level of shit.

You just watch. It has been more than obvious for decades for just about anyone abroad that the US have a 2-tiered justice system. You think that's just gonna change just because more Americans are aware of it now?! I wish for a conviction just like most decent human beings but I really dont believe it will happen.

I agree, but I thought the same of Nixon and Ronnie Raygun, and nothing happened to them. Same for Bush/ Cheney.

So I guess we'll see.

those aren't even comparable situations at all

Well, I sure hope an exception is made for donnie, but it does seem like it is comparable - right wing POTUSes getting away with egregious crimes. It seems like the right keep amping up their crimes over the years - "Watergate" is shorthand for something truly scandalous, but the fact of the matter is that Iran/Contra was even worse than that, lying us into Iraq and then committing war crimes and spying on Americans is arguably worse than Iran/Contra and plotting a coup and throwing an insurrection is definitely even worse.

The pattern I see is Republican Presidents getting away with more and more crimes with zero consequences, at least for themselves.

I would love to see donnie Bin Laden imprisoned and break that pattern.

The problem is that the people in charge don't care about people healing

I really wish news articles on guys like this would not use photos of them where they are trying to look all "hard" in their stupid Meal Team Six gear, smoking a cigarette and/or wearing the glasses and backwards hat, and instead would use pictures where they look a bit more ridiculous.

Like when Henry was arrested. Or this one:

This is the best summary I could come up with:


WASHINGTON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - A former chairman of the right-wing Proud Boys group was sentenced on Tuesday to 22 years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump trying to overturn the former president's election defeat.

Enrique Tarrio was convicted of charges, including seditious conspiracy, for his role in planning the storming of the Capitol, when thousands of supporters of the Republican then-U.S. president violently tried to stop Congress from certifying the results of an election that Trump falsely claimed had widespread fraud.

Oath Keepers militia founder Stewart Rhodes in May was also sentenced to 18 years.

Nordean and Rhodes had previously been tied for the longest sentence handed down in the case.

More than 1,100 people have been arrested on charges related to the Capitol assault, and of those at least 630 have pleaded guilty and at least 110 have been convicted at trial.

Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was tapped to investigate broader efforts to overturn the 2020 election, has charged Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, for trying to keep himself in power.


The original article contains 302 words, the summary contains 192 words. Saved 36%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Why ex? He is still very much involved in the ideology of it and hasn't changed. Just because he is in prison doesn't make him an ex proud boy does it?

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22 years is nothing to sneeze at, but I see Danny Masterson got 30 years to life. Yes, rape is obviously a terrible crime. But if this d-bag was actually successful in his terrorism, he would have negatively impacted MILLIONS of Americans, possibly causing all kinds of death and misery.

Republicans will pardon this guy. Lets be real, he did nothing when compared to george floyd riots (where people were murdered and robbed left and right in the name of a drug addict who was resisting arrest). They murdered and destroyed major cities and the propaganda sheep act like it never happened, why?

Things are going back to normal really soon so enjoy this bullshit while ya can ;)

I don't recall the George Floyd protesters killing anyone.

Kyle Rittenhouse sure did, but that wasn't about Floyd, and Rittenhouse wasn't a protestor:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenosha_unrest_shooting

One of the right wing "Patriot Prayer" asshats got killed in Portland, but that was in reaction to their fascist parade, not the Floyd protests.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killings_of_Aaron_Danielson_and_Michael_Reinoehl

The Guardian pegs it at 25, people driving their cars through protest marches, etc. But they are conflating all the protests, not just the Floyd ones.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/31/americans-killed-protests-political-unrest-acled

Then recall more accurately. Roughly a dozen died during those protests.

Citation?

Didnt you watch the news in 2020? The george floyd riots killed considerably more people than jan 6.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/31/americans-killed-protests-political-unrest-acled

Did you read your own link?

"Lee Keltner, a navy veteran who made custom western hats, was shot after a “patriot rally” in Denver on 10 October." - Not a George Floyd protest.

"Aaron “Jay” Danielson, a far-right Trump supporter, was shot after a rally in Portland in August." - Not a George Floyd protest.

"Garrett Foster was reportedly carrying an AK-47 rifle when he was shot to death in July by an armed man who had been driving a car through a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters in Austin." - Protestor was the victim, not the shooter. Killed by a fascist supporter.

"In Kenosha in August, a 17-year-old carrying a rifle he was not old enough to legally possess shot and killed two people, Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and seriously injured a third at a volatile late-night protest." -Not a George Floyd protest AND the victims were killed by a fascist supporter.

"In Louisville, the photographer Tyler Gerth was shot and killed at a downtown park where protesters gathered. The alleged shooter, Steven Nelson Lopez, was homeless and had a history of severe mental illness, and had reportedly been asked to leave the park earlier because of his behavior. Many of the protesters in the park were armed and on edge, and returned fire when Lopez started shooting, local news outlets reported." -Unrelated to the protest.

"In Las Vegas, Jorge Gomez was wearing body armor and carrying several guns when he was shot to death by Las Vegas police at a protest in June. Before he was shot, several protesters told Gomez they disapproved of him being armed, and even a journalist questioned him about why he was holding his gun in his hand with his finger on the trigger, the Las Vegas Sun reported. Las Vegas police officer Shay Mikalonis was shot in the head during the same protest, and reportedly remains paralyzed from the injury. Officials have said the 20-year-old Las Vegas resident charged in the shooting had not been participating in the protest before the attack, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported." - 2 victims, one protestor shot by the cops, and a cop shot by someone unrelated to the protest.

"Other law enforcement officers have been injured in non-fatal shootings this year, including two Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies shot in Compton while sitting in their patrol car in mid-September, and two Louisville police officers shot in late September during a protest over the lack of serious charges against police officers in Breonna Taylor’s killing." -Unrelated to ANY protest, George Floyd or otherwise.

"James Scurlock, a Black Lives Matter protester with an infant daughter, was shot to death in Omaha in May after a confrontation with a white bar owner outside the man’s bar." -Protestor as victim, not perpetrator.

"Other demonstrators died when cars drove through or rammed into crowds of Black Lives Matter protesters. Summer Taylor, a Black Lives Matter protester who worked in a veterinary clinic, was killed in such an incident in Seattle. So was Robert Forbes, a black protester from Bakersfield whose sister recalled him demonstrating decades earlier over the brutal police beating of Rodney King. In St Louis, Barry Perkins, a father of two, was killed after being dragged and run over by a FedEx truck during a protest in May." - More victims of fascists, not protestors.

"In addition to the people killed while demonstrating, at least 14 more Americans have been killed in other incidents linked to political unrest this summer, including seven people shot during alleged looting of businesses, among them David Dorn, a retired police officer shot during the robbery of a pawn shop in St Louis (not protest related); two California law enforcement officers murdered by an alleged anti-government “Boogaloo” extremist (victims of a fascist, not protestors), one person found dead in a pawn shop in Minneapolis that had been set on fire; an eight-year-old shot to death in Atlanta; and a Louisville restaurant owner who was shot dead by the national guard." - Again, not protest related.

"One of two fatal shootings of young black men in Seattle’s self-declared “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” was not politically motivated, according to ACLED’s review of details in the case, but the June shooting of Antonio Mays Jr, a 16-year-old, was found to be connected to the broader unrest. A Seattle Times review of footage linked to the chaotic scene of the shooting suggested that some people in the protest zone might have believed they were under attack when they fired their guns at the stolen Jeep Mays and another young teenager were driving into the zone." - CHAZ was not a George Floyd protest, it may have started that way, but became increasingly more complicated than that.

"Jessica Doty-Whitaker, a white woman, was shot to death early one July morning in Indianapolis. Her fiance told media outlets that her shooting had been preceded by a tense argument with some passerby about the use of a racial slur and the statements, “Black Lives Matter” v “All Lives Matter”. While they walked away from that confrontation, the fiance said, someone opened fire later and the 24-year-old mother was killed. Indianapolis police have not verified those claims or released any details about the circumstances of the shooting, and no one has been charged, but ACLED categorized the shooting as potentially politically motivated." - Unrelated to a protest.

"Victor Cazares Jr was described by friends and family as a supporter of Black Lives Matter. On 1 June, a day of widespread protests across the country, he was shot to death outside a neighborhood grocery store in Cicero, Illinois, that he was reportedly trying to protect." - Unrelated to a protest.

Murdered and destroyed major cities? Which ones?

Didnt you watch the news in 2020? The george floyd riots killed considerably more people than jan 6. If u need to see the destruction go to the west coast, or chicago, or baltimore. The country is a mess.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/31/americans-killed-protests-political-unrest-acled

I live in Portland. I lived it and haven't needed to watch the news. The people killed here have OVERWHELMINGLY been by cops or right wing assholes. Context matters

One leftist killed a marauding Trump train participant in self defense and was executed for that by the police. Another was shot but not killed only because he already opened fire and killed someone protesting.

Anyhow, I'm going to brave the charred wasteland of downtown Portland and head into work. Apparently this place is a smoldering crater according to OAN. That would be pretty sweet because the lines at the coffee place would be shorter as a result

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