Overview
- U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly granted the Justice Department’s unopposed motion on Friday to dismiss with prejudice the convictions of Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola, permanently closing the prosecution.
- The four men were convicted in 2023 of serious felonies tied to the Jan. 6 attack, with Nordean, Biggs and Rehl found guilty of seditious conspiracy and Pezzola convicted of multiple related crimes including breaking a Capitol window.
- President Trump commuted the sentences of the four on January 20, 2025 and issued broader clemency that led the DOJ in April to ask courts to vacate and dismiss several Jan. 6 cases.
- A D.C. Circuit panel vacated the Proud Boys convictions in May and remanded the matter, and Judge Kelly said he had no power to force the Justice Department to continue a prosecution even as he sharply criticized the administration’s rationale.
- The ruling erases high-profile convictions, drew public celebration from defendants and allies, and leaves related DOJ motions such as the request affecting Oath Keepers convictions as key unresolved questions for Jan. 6 accountability.