Prosecutors rest in sedition case against Proud Boys leaders

WASHINGTON -- Federal prosecutors on Monday rested their seditious conspiracy case against former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four lieutenants charged with plotting to stop the transfer of presidential power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 election.

Jurors will hear testimony from defense witnesses before deliberating in one of the most serious cases to come out of the Justice Department’s massive investigation of the violent Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.

Defense attorneys have argued there is no evidence the Proud Boys plotted to attack the Capitol and stop Congress from certifying Biden’s electoral victory. Norm Pattis, an attorney for former Proud Boys leader Joseph Biggs, said the group Boys had no plan, “no understanding” and no “implicit conspiracy” for Jan. 6.

“They did not come to your home to cause a riot,” Pattis told jurors on Monday.

The jury in Washington's federal court has heard more than 30 days of testimony over more than two months by more than 20 prosecution witnesses, including two former Proud Boys members who are cooperating with the government in hopes of lighter sentences.