Proud Boys trial : Police testify to ‘dire’ scene on Jan 6 as far-right group faces sedition charges

Five members of nationalist gang Proud Boys charged with seditious conspiracy for roles in January 6 attack

Five Proud Boys stand trial for part in Jan 6 riot

A second day of a trial for five members of far-right nationalist group the Proud Boys continued on Friday with testimony from a US Capitol Police officer and video and radio transmission audio evidence detailing the mob’s movements on 6 January, 2021, including one defendant using a stolen riot shield to bust out a window of the US Capitol.

Jurors will return to the court on 17 January for the trial involving former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and members Ethan Nordean, Joe Biggs, Dominic Pezzola and Zachary Rehl, who are charged with seditious conspiracy for their alleged roles in the riots. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison.

Federal prosecutors will try to convince a jury that the defendants conspired to forcefully oppose the lawful transfer of presidential power when a joint session of Congress convened to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.

In opening arguments, federal prosecutors said that the five men “took aim at the heart of democracy” by conspiring to storm the Capitol.

Key points

• Federal prosecutor says Proud Boys ‘took aim at heart of democracy'
• Enrique Tarrio’s lawyer says Trump ‘unleashed the mob’ on January 6
• Who are the Proud Boys?
• Why five Proud Boys members are on trial
• Judge allows prosecutors to use Trump’s ‘stand back and stand by’ remark as evidence

[14 January 2023 00:30 · Alex Woodward]

From Day 2: Capitol officer says ‘there would have been gunfire’ and ‘tremendous bloodshed’ if rioters breached Senate doors

President Joe Biden awarded US Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman the Presidential Citizens Medal on the second anniversary of the January 6 attack for his actions leading a mob away from the Senate. (AP)

The first witness in the Proud Boys trial, US Capitol Police Inspector Thomas Loyd, said if Eugene Goodman had not led a group of rioters up Capitol stairs and away from Senate doors below, “most likely there would’ve been gunfire at that point.”

He wrote in a victim impact statement attached in a court filing last month that said his colleague averted “tremendous bloodshed” in the Capitol.

“If Officer Goodman had not led the Defendant and the rest of the mob away from the Senate Lobby and an attempt was made to breach those doors, there would have been tremendous bloodshed,” Mr Lloyd wrote.

The final image that jurors were left with on Friday was of Proud Boy defendant Dominic Pezzola, holding a stolen police riot shield while standing behind a convicted Capitol rioter who followed Officer Goodman up the flight of stairs.

Judge Timothy Kelly, who is presiding over the Proud Boys seditious conspiracy trial, had sentenced Doug Jensen to five years in prison after jurors found him guilty of seven felony counts of civil disorder and assaulting a police officer.

He was infamously photographed wearing a QAnon T-shirt while confronting Officer Goodman, leading to his solo standoff with rioters as he led them up Capitol stairs in an attempt to keep them away from Senate offices.