Proud Boys recruit sentenced to 4.5 years for role in U.S. Capitol riot

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A neighborhood man who was within the strategy of becoming a member of the far-right Proud Boys group was sentenced on Monday to serve about 4-1/2 years in jail for his position in storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the Justice Division stated.

Joshua Pruitt, 40, a former Washington, D.C. resident, attended a rally with the Proud Boys on the day of the assault, earlier than he breached the Capitol grounds whereas sporting a tactical glove with knuckle pads.

Prosecutors stated he superior up the steps, leapt over a railing and entered on the U.S. Senate aspect of the constructing the place he finally made his means within the route of the subway utilized by members of Congress and their workers to journey throughout the Capitol for voting.

On the time, a safety element for then-U.S. Senate Minority Chief Charles Schumer was whisking him to security once they noticed Pruitt approaching of their route, they usually had been all compelled to retreat.

Pruitt, who pleaded responsible in June to a cost of obstructing an official continuing, is just not a part of the bigger seditious conspiracy prosecution pending towards six leaders of the Proud Boys, together with its former Chairman Enrique Tarrio.

Tarrio and his co-defendants are as a result of go to trial in December. It is going to be the second trial involving seditious conspiracy costs.

In September, a bunch of defendants who belong to or align themselves with the far-right Oath Keepers militia, together with founder Stewart Rhodes, may even go to trial for seditious conspiracy costs.

Because the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol by throngs of former President Donald Trump’s supporters, greater than 850 individuals have been charged for his or her position within the assault.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Modifying by Richard Chang)