Judge dismisses Proud Boys’ Jan. 6 convictions, citing separation of powers

A federal judge wiped out the Jan. 6 convictions of four Proud Boys leaders on Friday, saying he had to grant the Justice Department’s request to dismiss the case even as he rejected the idea that Donald Trump’s account of the Capitol attack was anything but “fiction.” U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly dismissed the convictions of Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola with prejudice, blocking prosecutors from bringing the case back.

Kelly said there was “little mystery” about why the government wanted to abandon the convictions and that he lacked authority to second-guess prosecutors once the Justice Department asked to drop the case. He also said he was not endorsing the move. The ruling turned on separation-of-powers principles, with Kelly concluding that the proper course was to grant the motion rather than try to stop it through the court.

The four men were defendants in the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. Nordean, Biggs and Rehl were convicted in 2023 of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to lengthy prison terms. Pezzola was convicted of assaulting or resisting officers, robbery involving government property, obstruction and other charges after video showed him smashing a Capitol window with a riot shield. Prosecutors said Nordean and Pezzola were involved in every consequential breach at the Capitol, helping lead Proud Boys into the building as barricades were torn down, police were assaulted and property was destroyed.

The attack threatened the peaceful transfer of power from Trump to Joe Biden and injured more than 100 police officers, prosecutors said. It also came as the Trump administration pressed to erase the remaining Jan. 6 fallout. In January, Trump pardoned about 1,500 people convicted in connection with the riot and commuted the sentences of 14 others, including Nordean, Biggs, Rehl and Pezzola. In April, the Justice Department asked a federal appeals court to vacate the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers convictions as part of a broader effort to unwind remaining cases.

House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin condemned the move as “an appalling and dangerous turn of events,” arguing that the Proud Boys leaders were convicted after a unanimous jury verdict following a months-long trial.