The capitol riot from January 6 happened a long time ago, but it is fresh in the memory of many. The law has not been forgotten either. On Tuesday, Charles Donohoe, a former high-ranking leader of the Proud Boys, faced sentencing.
The Proud Boys is a far-right extremist group. According to the justice department, he got three years and four months in prison for acting as the group’s “eyes and ears” during the January 6 riot.
A video from back then revealed an excited Donohoe among the throngs of rioters at the Capitol. His face was visible, and other group chat members were only too eager to hype him up.
Some even suggested he and the others use things like eggs and rotten tomatoes once within the Capitol. Previous court documents tag Charles Donohoe as a lieutenant under Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio’s “Ministry of Self Defense” chapter.
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They accuse him of “nuking” chats after the arrests started. According to The Associated Press, Donohoe has been in jail since his arrest in March 2021. As such, he may be granted release within the next couple of months.
His defense attorney, Ira Knight, believes Donohoe has “eagerly divorced himself” from the Proud Boys and has taken “time to understand the nature of his wrong.”
“I think you’ve got all the ingredients here to put this behind you,” U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said during the sentencing.
Donohoe was the second Proud Boy to plead guilty to attacking the U.S. Capitol.
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He has worked closely with prosecutors, admitting to obstructing official proceedings to certify President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 elections. As well as assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers.
Donohoe, 35, from Kernersville, North Carolina, has apologized to his family, the law-enforcement officers who guarded the Capitol, and “America as a whole” for his actions on that fateful day.
“I knew what I was doing was illegal from the very moment those barricades got knocked down,” he said.
Prosecutors urged the court to give him a prison sentence ranging from 35 to 43 months. Meanwhile, sentencing guidelines recommended a prison term ranging from 70 to 87 months.
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“Donohoe and his co-conspirators organized and led a small army as they launched an attack on the heart of our democracy. They took these actions because they did not like the outcome of the election,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.
The first Proud Boys Member to plead guilty to conspiracy was a New York man, Matthew Greene. Greene’s sentencing hearing will come up sometime in the future.
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