Who is Joe Biggs? All about the former Proud Boys leader as he is sentenced to 17 years in prison

Joe Biggs is a conservative leader of the Proud Boys group, who conspired in the assault of the United States Capitol Building. As per BBC, the 38-year-old US Army veteran was sentenced to 17 years in prison for his role in the attack.

Biggs and his accomplice Zachary Rehl (who was sentenced to 15 years) were convicted of seditious conspiracy and other charges. The Proud Boys group planned the attack to derail the peaceful transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the former's loss in the 2020 elections, as per Politico.

U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly, while sentencing Joe Biggs, told the court:

"That day broke our tradition of peacefully transferring power. The mob brought an entire branch of government to heel."

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Details about Joe Biggs and his sentencing trial for the Jan 6 riot

Joseph Randall Biggs, one of the main leaders of the far-right group Proud Boys, was born in 1983 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

He was a part of the Jan 6 Riot that took the lives of five civilians - one was shot, another overdosed and the rest died of natural causes, as per New York Times. It resulted in four Capitol officers dying by suicide after the incident.

Joe Biggs was convicted in May 2023 along with three other Proud Boys, for seditious conspiracy.

Other hoards of charges against him are "of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of an official proceeding; conspiracy to use force, intimidation or threats to prevent officers from discharging their duties; interference with law enforcement during civil disorder; and destruction of government property," according to the U.S District Court.

On August 31, Joe Biggs faced the second-longest sentence of 17 years, out of around 1100 criminal cases relating to the Capitol attack. The longest one was 18 years, handed to Stewart Rhodes earlier this year, as per The Independent.

He is the founder of Oath Keepers, an anti-government militia group.

Joe Biggs was supposed to get 33 years as sought after by the Federal prosecutors, but Judge Kelly, who was appointed by Donald Trump, decided on a lighter sentence, according to Politico.

Biggs pleaded for leniency at the time of his trial and expressed remorse in a tearful speech in the court. He told the U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly that he was "seduced" by the riot and the crowd that gathered.

"I just moved forward. My curiosity got the better of me," he added. "I'm not a terrorist. I don't have hate in my heart. I know that I have to be punished, and I understand."

The prosecutors called Biggs a "vocal leader and influential proponent of the group’s shift toward political violence" who used his military background to "revolt against the government in an effort to stop the peaceful transfer of power."

They also wrote in a memo presented to the court that Joe Biggs "viewed himself and his movement as a second American revolution where he and the other ‘patriots’ would retake the government by force."

However, Judge Kelly said the 33-year prison sentence was a lot for Joe Biggs considering the Proud Boys' actions "contrasted with plots to blow up government buildings and other mass casualty events."

The prosecution, however, disagreed as Assistant US Attorney Jason McCullough stated that the group "brought the United Nations of America to the brink of a constitutional crisis."

The evidence the prosecutors presented were social media posts, videos, and text messages between the Proud Boys to strengthen their case.

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Dominic Pezzola another member of the group, will face his trial on Sunday, September 1, 2023.