US judge dismisses January 6 case against Proud Boys after Trump order
A US federal judge dismissed seditious conspiracy charges against four members of the far-right Proud Boys group for the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack, citing a Trump executive order and separation of powers.
A United States federal court on Friday dismissed the seditious conspiracy cases against four members of the Proud Boys, the far-right group involved in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. Judge Timothy J Kelly, a Trump appointee, granted the government's motion to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be revived.
In his seven-page ruling, Kelly made clear that the defendants — Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola — had been "convicted of serious offences". However, he rooted his decision in the separation of government powers, not the merits of the case. "As the Court has said many times, the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 was a perilous event. It was an attack on people, including police officers, many of whom were injured," Kelly wrote.
The ruling is another milestone in Trump's efforts to end prosecution of January 6 rioters. Trump has long defended the rioters and called their prosecution a "national injustice". On January 20, 2025, the first day of his second term, Trump signed an executive order granting "a full, complete and unconditional pardon" to most defendants involved in the Capitol attack. He also commuted the sentences of 14 people, including Nordean, Biggs, Rehl and Pezzola.
Judge Kelly cited that series of events but expressed scepticism: "No one should mistake the Court’s granting of the Government’s motion for its agreement with those decisions." In May 2023, a jury in Washington, DC, found Nordean, Biggs and Rehl guilty of charges including seditious conspiracy, while Pezzola was found not guilty of seditious conspiracy but convicted of several felonies. They received prison terms ranging from 10 to 18 years.
Kelly explained that the court cannot "compel" the executive branch to pursue prosecutions, and Trump's order required the DOJ to seek dismissal. He concluded: "Moving forward, if this Nation’s experiment in self-government is to last another 250 years, the American people — no matter their partisan preferences — will have to act together to preserve, protect and defend that miracle through our constitutional framework."
