Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs sentenced to 17 years in prison over Jan 6 riot

On Thursday, Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs was sentenced to 17 years in prison over his role in riots that took place at the United States Capitol in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021.

The sentence, handed down by Trump-appointed judge Timothy Kelly, is the second longest given to Jan 6 defendants so far, but still 16 years short of the original term sought by prosecutors. 

According to Politico, when Kelly delivered his sentence, he stated that the events of January 6 "broke our tradition of peacefully transferring power."

Biggs is the first of four Proud Boys charged with seditious conspiracy to hear his fate after sentencing hearings for former leader Enrique Tarrio and his colleague, Ethan Nordean, scheduled for Wednesday were delayed. Zach Rehl is still set to be sentenced today.

Dominic Pezzola, a Proud Boys member who was not charged with seditious conspiracy, will hear his fate on Friday.

Earlier this week, all five defendents gathred before Kelly in the DC court room to hear victim impact statements from Capitol Police officers who were there on January 6.

Officer Shae Cooney drew attention to the death of her colleague Brian Sicknick, who collapsed during the riots, and passed away the following day. 
 

"Every day we have to be reminded that he's not here anymore because the people in this courtroom decided that they weren't happy with how an election went, and they thought the best idea was to break into the Capitol, fight police officers and try to overturn an election," she said.

Her sentiments were shared by fellow former officer Marc Ode, who referred to the events of January 6 as a "planned and organized attempt to overthrow our constitutional process by individuals who determined that their opinion of the few were superior to our constitution and decided to use violence and terror to impose their will."

This is a breaking story and will be updated.