Zachary Rehl, the former president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Proud Boys, a white supremacist terrorist organization, was sentenced to 15 years in federal imprisonment in August 2023 for seditious conspiracy and several other criminal counts related to the January 6, 2001, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
District Judge Timothy Kelly called Rehl and his co-defendant Joseph Biggs part of “a national disgrace” that contributed to the ruin of America’s tradition of a peaceful transfer of power.
During a months-long trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Rehl and three of his co-defendants – Biggs, Ethan Nordean, and Enrique Tarrio – plotted and incited violence in the attack on the Capitol.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/31/politics/proud-boys-biggs-sentencing/index.html
Rehl, Biggs, and other members of the Proud Boys organization conspired to obstruct and delay the certification of the Electoral College vote and forcefully confronted the authority of the U.S. government, according to court documents and evidence presented during the trial.
In addition, according to evidence, the organization established a chain of command, coordinated the attack and recruited others follow orders.
Before the January 6 insurrection, Rehl, according to trial evidence, advocated for “firing squads” to be used against “the traitors that are trying to steal the election. After the attack, Rehl said the attack was a “good start” but that the rioters should have shown up armed and “[taken] the country back the right way.” Judge Kelly called those statements “chilling.”
Rehl was also accused of perjuring himself 14 times during his testimony in his trial. He was confronted with video evidence that showed him spraying police officers with a chemical irritant.
“You did spray that officer, and then you lied about it,” judge Kelly told Rehl. “Those are what we call in the law bad facts.”
Rehl, in an emotional speech before he was sentenced, broke into tears as he pleaded for leniency and asked for forgiveness from his family.
“I’m done with politics,” he said. “I’m done peddling lies for people that don’t care about me . . . Jan. 6 was a despicable day.”
People like, I don’t know, maybe Donald Trump.
Trump gave the Proud Boys his nod of approval during a debate with Democratic candidate Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign. When asked to condemn white supremacist organizations, Trump told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.”
