A former leader of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group was sentenced on Tuesday to more than three years behind bars for joining a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol nearly three years ago.

Charles Donohoe was the second Proud Boy to plead guilty to conspiring with other group members to obstruct the Jan. 6, 2021, joint session of Congress for certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory. His sentence could be a bellwether for other Proud Boys conspirators who agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors.

Donohoe, 35, of Kernersville, North Carolina, apologized to his family, the law-enforcement officers who guarded the Capitol on Jan. 6 and “America as a whole” for his actions on Jan. 6.

“I knew what I was doing was illegal from the very moment those barricades got knocked down,” he said.

  • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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    8 months ago

    Glad that it happened, but it taking three years is absurd. This guy walked as a free man for such a long time. Can’t see it taking as long if he got charged with having a bag of shrooms, probably it could’ve got him a longer sentence too. But if he cooperated with authorities, maybe it means more charged idiots in the future? One can dream.

    • cybersandwich@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      He actually didn’t walk free. He’s been in jail this whole time I believe so he’s likely only going to serve a few more months. Which is a little disappointing

      • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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        8 months ago

        Which is, right. But it’s still a little bit less disappointing than having a former president and insurectionist still screeching idiotic propaganda and personal threats only limited by some lax gag orders. I’d love to see him behind the bars too, as a foreigner, for him supporting my opressive regime from falling down and finally becoming a proper country. I’d drink to that. And this person ending their sentence now is not as problematic, and even positive, as it means this system sometimes works right, at least for the lower ranks, and it has an opportunity to grow. It’s at least promising. Just a wish, but beggars can’t be choosers. Until there’s some magick like class consciousness happens.