cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/6180850

A leader of the Proud Boys who led the far-right organization’s infamous march to the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, was sentenced Wednesday to 17 years in prison – among the longest sentence handed down yet for a convicted rioter.

Joe Biggs was convicted by a Washington, DC jury of several charges including seditious conspiracy for attempting to forcibly prevent the peaceful transfer of power from then-President Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 election.

The government wanted Biggs to serve 33 years in federal prison. That’s 15 years longer than the longest sentence in a Jan. 6 case to date: the 18-year sentence that went to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, also convicted of seditious conspiracy, after prosecutors sought 25 years in federal prison.