WASHINGTON, D.C. – If you thought the U.S. Department of Justice has been extremely busy investigating and prosecuting people in the nearly three years since the events of January 6, 2021 at the Capitol building, you would be spot on.
More than 1,200 individuals, who were primarily angered following the methods employed during the 2020 election, have been identified and arrested, the Post Millennial reported. These people include off-duty and retired police officers, firefighters, and former military personnel. Most of them were not your typical criminal defendants, which has caused many on the political right to cast aspersions regarding the ongoing weaponization of President Joe Biden’s Justice Department.
DOJ data shows that by the end of 2023, about 450 defendants received 847 years of prison time, according to the Washington Examiner.
The majority of those who have been arrested were subsequently charged with entering or remaining in a restricted federal building or grounds, obstructing an official proceeding, assaulting or impeding police officers, and destruction or theft of government property. Hence, many sentences were only a few days of confinement.
However, several others face years, and in some cases decades, in federal custody. One man who was not even present during the riot received more than two decades in prison.
Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was not at the Capitol on January 6 but was charged with seditious conspiracy for an organizing role, received the longest sentence at 22 years, according to the Post Millennial.
His three co-defendants, identified as Zachary Rehl, Joe Biggs, and Ethan Nordean, all of whom were named as affiliates of Proud Boys, each received between 15 and 18 years in prison.
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Several others who refuse to take plea bargains, like former Tennessee deputy Colton McAbee, have already been in custody for more than two years while awaiting trial.
