A federal judge has dismissed the Justice Department’s landmark criminal case against several leaders of the Proud Boys after the Trump administration requested that the convictions be vacated.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly granted the Justice Department’s motion Friday, formally ending one of the highest-profile prosecutions stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, protests on the U.S. Capitol.
Kelly said he believed he had no legal authority to reject the executive branch’s request, citing the constitutional separation of powers.
“In light of fundamental separation of powers principles … the proper course here is for the Court simply to grant the motion in full,” Kelly wrote in his ruling.
The dismissal was entered “with prejudice,” preventing a future Justice Department from bringing the same charges again.
Although Kelly approved the request, he emphasized that his ruling should not be interpreted as support for the administration’s decision.
“No one should mistake the Court’s granting of the Government’s motion for its agreement with those decisions,” he wrote.
The case centered on the convictions of Proud Boys leaders Enrique Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, Joe Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola, who were found guilty of offenses related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack after a six-month trial.
Federal prosecutors argued during the trial that the Proud Boys organized a “fighting force” that helped drive the violence at the Capitol as Congress met to certify the 2020 presidential election.
According to prosecutors, members of the group participated in multiple breaches of police lines, while Pezzola used a stolen police riot shield to break a Senate-wing window, creating one of the first entry points into the Capitol, per Politico.
The riot disrupted the certification of the election, forced lawmakers to evacuate and left more than 100 law enforcement officers injured.
After returning to office, President Donald Trump issued pardons for most Jan. 6 defendants and directed the Justice Department to dismiss hundreds of pending cases connected to the Capitol attack.
Trump also pardoned Tarrio, who had received a 22-year prison sentence, the longest imposed on any defendant in connection with Jan. 6.
The remaining Proud Boys leaders initially received sentence commutations rather than pardons and continued appealing their convictions.
Earlier this year, after Todd Blanche became acting attorney general, the Justice Department moved to vacate those convictions entirely and dismiss the case.
The department has also sought to erase the convictions of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and other members of that organization, though that request remains under consideration by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta.
Following Friday’s ruling, Tarrio celebrated the outcome on social media.
“We took the worst they threw at us, the raids, the solitary, the lies and we stood tall,” Tarrio wrote. “Trump dropped the pardons and now the rest is crumbling. Justice is SERVED!”
Kelly, however, stressed that the decision to abandon the prosecution belonged solely to the executive branch and reflected the administration’s policy choices rather than the court’s views.
“President Trump’s views about the prosecution of those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6 — whether those views are based on fact or fiction — are well known,” Kelly wrote.
