The Trump administration moved Tuesday to clear some of the last remaining convictions related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, as some still stood following President Donald Trump’s mass pardons last year.
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The Tuesday filing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was submitted by the office of U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, asking the court to “vacate” the convictions of four members of the Proud Boys: Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola.
The four were all convicted in 2023 of multiple felony charges, and all but Pezzola were convicted of seditious conspiracy.
While Trump gave a full pardon to the overwhelming majority of Jan. 6 defendants, his proclamation granted 14 individuals a commutation, meaning their sentences were reduced to time served but their sentences were not dismissed outright. The request would erase those convictions.
Officials wrote that vacating the four defendants’ convictions is “in the interests of justice.”
“In the Executive Branch’s view, it is not in the interests of justice to continue to prosecute this case or the cases of other, similarly situated defendants,” officials wrote.
Rehl, who was seen on video from Jan. 6 spraying officers with pepper spray, wrote in a post on X that he is “beyond thrilled” about the administration’s filing.
“After all the fighting, it appears this chapter is finally over. Persistently fighting for truth and justice pays off!” Rehl wrote. “Thank you for everyone who supported us in this fight! Love you all!”
Rehl was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison in 2023. He had testified that he did not “recall” spraying officers with a chemical substance.
Nordean — who was on trial alongside Rehl, Biggs, Pezzola and Enrique Tarrio, who was not named in Tuesday’s filing — was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison. Prosecutors wrote that Nordean “played a central role in unleashing the violence and destruction at the U.S. Capitol,” on Jan. 6.
Biggs was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison, with prosecutors writing that he “served as an instigator and leader” during the riot. Pezzola was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after the trial. He was captured on video smashing in a window when rioters first breached the Capitol.
Officials said they were filing similar motions in cases involving members of the Oath Keepers.
Tarrio, who was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison on charges including seditious conspiracy, was granted clemency by Trump last year. He celebrated the filing as a victory, writing in a post on X “our lives are now closer to being whole.”
“Jeanine Pirro has moved to dismiss all charges In the ProudBoys sedition trial,” Tarrio wrote. “This is my happiest day since the pardon that released us from the jaws of injustice!”
Alexis Loeb, a former deputy in the office’s now-shuttered Capitol Siege Section, told NBC News on Tuesday that vacating the convictions would have practical implications, even though the defendants were already released from federal prison.
“If their convictions are vacated, they won’t face the collateral consequences that go with a felony conviction, such as being prohibited from owning a firearm,” Loeb said.
Upon his return to office in Jan. 2025, Trump issued about 1,500 pardons and commuted the sentences of 14 others who were involved in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Since Trump issued the mass pardons, several of those Jan. 6 defendants have been charged for other crimes, including for cases of child sex abuse.
Daniel Tocci was sentenced to four years in prison last month for possessing an “enormous child pornography collection.” Andrew Paul Johnson was sentenced to life in prison in March for charges including molesting a child under 12 and another under 16.
David Daniel, who admitted to assaulting law enforcement during the riot, will plead guilty in a separate case involving child exploitation of multiple victims, including minor under the age of 12.
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