The sentencing for Enrique Tarrio, the former chairman of the Proud Boys, was canceled on Wednesday morning after a judge unexpectedly called off his hearings for the day, a spokesperson for the federal court in Washington, D.C., confirmed.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced an hour before the 10 a.m. hearing that it was postponed “due to an emergency,” but the spokesperson clarified the matter was not an emergency.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly rescheduled Tarrio’s hearing for Sept. 5, according to the court’s calendar.
Tarrio, who was convicted of a rare seditious conspiracy charge in May for his involvement in organizing a large group for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, is expected to receive a lengthy prison sentence that could span decades after the government recommended he receive 33 years.
Four other co-defendants in the case, who are also Proud Boys leaders, are scheduled to receive what is expected to be yearslong sentences this week. Whether those will occur as planned remains unclear.
On Tuesday, the defendants sat together in a Washington courtroom, clad in orange jumpsuits, as they listened to Kelly weigh sentencing guidelines and whether to apply “terrorist enhancements” in his calculation.
Prosecutors are seeking prison sentences that, if granted, would surpass the longest sentence of the roughly 600 handed out so far. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes holds the record after receiving 18 years in May.
Four of the five defendants were found guilty in May of seditious conspiracy, a rare charge established during the Civil War, as well as conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, one of the same charges former President Donald Trump is facing for his alleged illegal efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
All five were found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding, destruction of federal property, and interference with police during a civil disorder, among other charges.
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Tarrio, who was not in Washington on Jan. 6, had been heavily involved in organizing people to lead the riot but was arrested and ordered to leave Washington a couple of days prior to it for burning a Black Lives Matter flag and carrying two large-capacity magazines, according to his indictment.
Court records revealed that, during the riot, Tarrio shared messages to his tens of thousands of followers on the social media platform Parler that included telling those at the Capitol not to leave and calling them “revolutionaries.” He shared a photo of apparently scared lawmakers hiding. In the days after, he posted messages that included “I’m not denouncing s***” and “f*** the system” in all capital letters.
