(TheLastPatriotNews.com) – In a new staggering prison sentence for a J6 protester prosecuted by the Biden administration, Joseph Biggs, a former top lieutenant of the “Proud Boys,” has been sent behind bars for 17 years.
Biggs received the second-longest prison term among the over 1,000 Americans charged over their protest in support of then-President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The only other J6 protester with a longer sentence than Biggs is Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was imprisoned for 18 years.
US Justice Department prosecutors had asked the court for a 33-year sentence for the former Proud Boys leader, The New York Post reports.
It notes Biggs led other Proud Boys members who broke the Capitol Police cordons during the joint session of Congress convened to certify the results from the 2020 election.
“I know that I messed up that day, but I’m not a terrorist,” Biggs told Washington DC U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly before his sentence was read.
In May, a federal grand jury found the leading Proud Boys figure guilty of conspiracy over the January 6 events after a four-month trial in the nation’s capital.
Biggs, aged 39, from Ormond Beach, Florida, served in the U.S. Army from 2005 until 2013, when he was discharged for medical reasons. He was later a correspondent for the Infowars website operated by Alex Jones.
The same judge will also sentence four other Proud Boys leaders, including the group’s leader Enrique Tarrio, who were all convicted in May.
Tarrio’s sentencing was moved from Wednesday to next Tuesday because Kelly was sick at the time.
Four of the five Proud Boys leaders were found guilty of “seditious conspiracy,” which The Post describes as “a rarely brought Civil War-era offense.”
The fifth defendant, Dominic Pezzola, was acquitted of that charge but was found guilty of other serious charges.
Seven members of the Oath Keepers group, including their leader, Stewart Rhodes, were convicted of seditious conspiracy in another trial in 2022.
Over 1,000 Americans have been charged for participating in the January 6, 2021, events at the U.S. Capitol. More than 600 of them have been found guilty and sentenced.
