Former Proud Boys leader sobs as he’s jailed for 17 YEARS

Former Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs sobbed as he was sentenced to 17 years in prison over his role in the January 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol.

Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl and Enrique Tarrio were all found guilty of seditious conspiracy by a Washington D.C. jury after they broke into the Capitol following the 2020 election.

During his sentencing on Thursday, Biggs’ lawyers argued he did not assault anyone as they asked for leniency.

Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Florida, was a self-described Proud Boys organizer, but said he is ‘not a violent person and I proved that’ and was ‘seduced by the crowd.’

Waring an orange prison jumpsuit, he pleaded with the judge, saying he wanted to take his daughter to school and be there for his sick mother. 

‘I know that I have to be punished and I understand,’ he said, according to CNN, but added, ‘please give me the chance, I beg you, to take my daughter to school and pick her up.’

‘I wanted to see what would happen… My curiosity got the best of me,’ he claimed. ‘I’m not a terrorist… I’m one of the nicest people in the world.’

Judge Timothy Kelly wasn’t having it, as he said Americans are the envy of the world and U.S. elections must be respected, telling Biggs: ‘You did play a role in riling up the crowd.’

‘If you don’t like how an election is being conducted ..you can speak out, call, write or meet with election officials. You can engage in peaceful protest. File a lawsuit.’

The judge ruled that Biggs was qualified for a terrorism sentencing enhancement because he teared down of a fence that stood between police and rioters.

Former Proud Boys chairman Tarrio, who faces up to 33 years in prison, was supposed to be sentenced on Wednesday but the hearing was suspended after the judge became ill.

Bigg’s sentence is one of the harshest handed out in Capitol riot cases, only behind the 18-year sentence for Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes.

Prosecutors had asked for 33 years for Biggs, arguing he was a ‘vocal leader and influential proponent of the group’s shift toward political violence.’

Biggs is a veteran who sustained a head injury while deployed in Iraq, and worked for Alex Jones’ conspiracy website Infowars.

Prosecutors argued the Proud Boys were at the front lines of the mob on Capitol grounds and were there when the first barriers were breached.

During the trial, the court heard that hundreds of messages were exchanged between the group leading up to the riot.

The group saw Biden and other left-leaning politicians as a threat to the country and spoke about needing ‘war,’ ‘revolution,’ and firing squads for traitors. 

Defense lawyers denied there was any plot to attack the Capitol or stop Congress’ certification of Biden’s win. 

The investigation has become the largest for the Justice Department in American history, and it hadn’t tried a seditious conspiracy case in over a decade. 

The riots followed months of false claims by Trump and his allies that the election had been rigged against him. 

A select House committee investigated the riots and in its final report accused Trump of a criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The committee estimated that from the election to Jan. 6, the president and aides made hundreds of efforts to pressure officials to overturn the results.

Targets included states he lost but that had GOP-led legislatures such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona.

One of the bombshell revelations was that key witness, former White House aid Cassidy Hutchinson told investigators that she felt pressure from Trump’s circle to stay silent.

According to her testimony, a former Trump White House ethics lawyer told her that ‘the less you remember, the better.’

Stefan Passantino apparently told her there was no crime in having a faulty memory.

Trump has since been indicted for this role in the riots.