In a recent court document, Enrique Tarrio’s defense attorneys are reportedly attempting to win over the jury to their client’s side, according to CBS News’ Scott MacFarlane on Tuesday.
In new court filing, Proud Boys figure Enrique Tarrio's defense says he is:
"Locked up, broke, jobless, and getting ready for a trial on the criminal docket that commences August 8, 2022"
But "wants to tell his side of the January 6 story" pic.twitter.com/qEffbi8ENm
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) June 21, 2022
Tarrio, the filing says, is “locked up, broke, [and] jobless” and ready to “tell his side of the January 6 story.”
Tarrio, who had his request for early release from jail last month denied, was recently charged with seditious conspiracy for his part in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6. This comes after similar accusations were made against the Oath Keepers, a paramilitary organization.
The Proud Boys are a self-described “Western Chauvinist” organization with connections to local and state GOP activists and white nationalists.
They were instrumental in the attempt to attack the Capitol because they believed that if they could stop Congress from counting the votes, they could stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.
The Proud Boys’ elaborate invasion strategy, which included hiring a “covert sleeper” to schedule an appointment and impede traffic to keep cops out, has been made public in documents.
Tarrio, the former longstanding chairman of the extremist group Proud Boys, was indicted along with four top lieutenants on a new federal charge of seditious conspiracy. The accusations add to the Justice Department’s allegations of a coordinated effort to prevent President Biden’s election victory from being certified through violence, culminating in a mob attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Tarrio, 38, was not in the District on that day, but he allegedly directed actions from nearby Baltimore as Proud Boys members engaged in the first and most aggressive attacks to confront and overwhelm police at numerous key sites on the Capitol grounds.
Authorities say another defendant, Dominic Pezzola of Rochester, N.Y., used a stolen police riot shield to break through the first window of the building at 2:13 p.m.
Tarrio, Pezzola, and three other existing defendants — Ethan Nordean of Washington, Joe Biggs of Florida, and Zachary Rehl of Pennsylvania — are charged with “opposing the lawful transfer of presidential power by force” in a 10-count superseding indictment returned Monday morning.
They eventually mustered and coordinated the movements of as many as 300 people around the Capitol that day. The defendants are accused of inciting and leading a disturbance that engulfed the Capitol, causing Congress to flee as it met to confirm the election results for 2020.
In the Jan. 6 attack, federal prosecutors charged Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the extremist group Oath Keepers, and 10 others with the historically rare allegation of seditious conspiracy for the first time.
Two other defendants, Joshua James of Alabama and Brian Ulrich of Georgia, as well as one other Oath Keeper member, William Todd Wilson of North Carolina, have pleaded guilty to the charge and are cooperating with the Justice Department since the charges were filed in January, a year after the violence.
Charles Donohoe of North Carolina, a Tarrio co-defendant, pled guilty to two felony counts in April, including impeding a congressional official action.
His pleading revealed the group’s plans and intentions to sabotage the electoral vote confirmation. Tarrio and the others had previously pleaded not guilty to charges that included conspiracy to obstruct Congress and obstructing police in a civil disorder.
Seditious conspiracy, punishable by up to 20 years in jail, and conspiracy to hinder an officer from fulfilling any duties are two of the new offenses. On Friday, a new hearing has been scheduled.
Rehl’s attorney, Carmen Hernandez, described the prosecutors’ actions ahead of an August trial date as “very heavy-handed” against her client, who she claimed did not commit any violence and was only supposedly involved with the Proud Boys as a matter of his First Amendment right.
“To bring such a serious charge against Mr. Rehl at this late date without alleging a single new fact against him is simply wrong and deserves a response,” Hernandez wrote in a filing.
Tarrio’s attorney Nayib Hassan said his client “is looking forward to trial and his day in court.”
