Former Proud Boys leader Ethan Nordean jailed for 18 years over January 6 Capitol riots
Proud Boys leader Ethan Nordean has been jailed for 18 years – the joint longest sentence given to anyone involved in the January 6 Capitol riots so far.
Nordean is the latest to be jailed after other leaders and members of the group were convicted of spearheading an attack aimed at preventing the peaceful transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election.
He was described as the “undisputed leader on the ground on 6 Jan,” by prosecutor Jason McCullough, who also asked the judge to sentence him to 27 years.
Nordean was convicted of seditious conspiracy and other crimes by a jury.
In a statement to the judge, Nordean called the riots a “complete and utter tragedy” and said he had gone to the Capitol to be a leader and to keep people out of trouble.
“While it is true that I wholeheartedly regret what I did that day, what I regret more is not being a better leader,” he said.
It comes after Stewart Rhodes, the leader and founder of another far-right group, the Oathkeepers, who was also sentenced to 18 years.
Earlier on Friday, a former member of the far-right Proud Boys shouted “Trump won” as he was jailed for 10 years for his part in the January 6 Capitol riots.
Dominic Pezzola, 46, took a police officer’s riot shield and used it to smash a window, allowing rioters to make the first breach into the Capitol.
Dominic Pezzola (centre) with the police shield he took. Pic: AP
He later filmed a “celebratory video” with a cigar inside the building, prosecutors said.
Pezzola was a recent Proud Boys recruit, however, and a jury acquitted him of the most high-profile charge of seditious conspiracy.
“He was an enthusiastic foot soldier,” prosecutor Erik Kenerson said.
US District Judge Timothy Kelly noted that Pezzola, of Rochester, New York, was a newcomer to the group who did not write the kind of increasingly violent online messages that his co-defendants did leading up to the attack.
However, he was in some ways a “tip of the spear” in allowing rioters to get into the Capitol, the judge added.
“The reality is you smashed that window in and let people begin to stream into the Capitol building and threaten the lives of our lawmakers,” the judge told Pezzola.
“It’s not something that I ever dreamed I would have seen in our country.”
The defence had asked for five years for Pezzola, saying he got “caught up in the craziness” that day.
Pezzola told the judge that he wished he had never crossed into a restricted area on January 6 and he apologised to the officer whose shield he took.
“There is no place in my future for groups or politics whatsoever,” he said.
Read more:
How Proud Boys secretly planned to overthrow democracy
Capitol riot trial date set for clash with primaries
Capitol riots. Pic: AP
But later, as he left the courtroom, he raised a fist and said: “Trump won!”
Two co-defendants were sentenced on Thursday.
Joseph Biggs, an organiser from Ormond Beach, Florida, got 17 years, and Zachary Rehl, a leader of the Philadelphia chapter, got 15 years.
The highest-profile Proud Boys member, Enrique Tarrio, is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday after a month-long trial.
More than 1,100 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 600 of them have been convicted and sentenced.
The families of some of the victims of the Uvalde school shooting have announced new legal action against three companies they say effectively helped to “train” the gunman to carry out the attack.
Legal action against Instagram parent company Meta Platforms, the maker of the video game series Call Of Duty and the company that made the gun used in the May 2022 shooting was announced on the two-year anniversary of the attack in Texas in the US.
Salvador Ramos, 18, killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School on 24 May 2022.
The new legal cases accuse the companies of partnering to promote and create content designed to glorify combat, gun violence and killing.
Pic: Reuters
Josh Koskoff, a lawyer for the families, called the companies a “three-headed monster” that “knowingly exposed [the gunman] to the weapon, conditioned him to see it as a tool to solve his problems and trained him to use it”.
“There is a direct line between the conduct of these companies and the Uvalde shooting,” Mr Koskoff said.
According to the lawsuits, Ramos had played versions of Call Of Duty since he was 15, including one that allowed him to effectively practise with the version of the rifle he used at the school.
It claimed the company created a “hyperrealistic” game where “although the killing is virtual, the weapons are authentic – they are designed to perfectly imitate their real-life counterparts in look, feel, recoil and accuracy”.
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‘Failures’ in Uvalde school shooting
The legal action claims Instagram does little to enforce rules that ban marketing firearms and harmful content to children.
It also accuses gunmakers Daniel Defense of using the social media platform to help “extol the illegal, murderous use of its weapons”.
Some of the same families also filed a $500m (£392m) lawsuit against Texas state police officials and officers who responded to the shooting but waited more than an hour to confront Ramos inside the classroom as students and teachers lay dead, dying or wounded.
‘Baseless accusations’
Call Of Duty makers, Activision, called the shooting “horrendous and heartbreaking in every way”.
The company added its “deepest sympathies” for the “families and communities who remain impacted by this senseless act of violence”.
But it added: “Millions of people around the world enjoy video games without turning to horrific acts.”
Activision called the shooting ‘horrendous and heartbreaking in every way’. Pic: AP
The Entertainment Software Association – a video game industry trade group – also said it was “outraged by senseless acts of violence” but pushed back on blaming games for violence, arguing research has found no link.
“We discourage baseless accusations linking these tragedies to video gameplay, which detract from efforts to focus on the root issues in question and safeguard against future tragedies,” the group said.
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Survivors and community members at Uvalde town square on Friday morning. Pic: AP
Daniel Defense and Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.
This is not the first legal action to be brought over the shooting.
In December 2022, a group of different plaintiffs filed a separate lawsuit against local and state police, the city, and other school and law enforcement, which seeks at least $27bn (£21bn) and class-action status for survivors.
At least two other lawsuits have also been filed against Daniel Defense.
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To mark the two-year anniversary of the shooting, community members in Uvalde planned a vigil for those killed.
In a letter, President Joe Biden said: “As we mark this solemn day, may we pray for those we lost, their loved ones, and all those who were wounded.”
A judge has rejected a request by Alec Baldwin to dismiss his criminal charge relating to the fatal shooting on the set of Rust.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer upheld an indictment charging Baldwin with one count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, in 2021.
The New Mexico judge rejected defence arguments that prosecutors flouted the rules of grand jury proceedings to divert attention away from exculpatory evidence and witnesses.
Halyna Hutchins. Pic: Shutterstock
Prosecutors denied the accusations and said Baldwin made “shameless” attempts to escape culpability, highlighting contradictions in his statements to law enforcement, to workplace safety regulators, and in a television interview.
Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to the charge, which carries a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison.
His lawyers said after Friday’s judgement: “We look forward to our day in court.”
The 66-year-old’s trial has been scheduled to start in July.
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During a rehearsal on the set of the Western film, Baldwin pointed a gun at Hutchins when the revolver went off, killing her and injuring director Joel Souza.
The actor has maintained that he pulled back the gun’s hammer but not the trigger.
US
Morgan Spurlock: Super Size Me documentary maker, who ate only McDonald’s for a month, dies aged 53
Documentary maker Morgan Spurlock, who famously ate only at McDonald’s for a month in Super Size Me, has died.
Spurlock died from complications of cancer at the age of 53 in New York, his family confirmed in a statement.
Craig Spurlock, the filmmaker’s brother, said: “Morgan gave so much through his art, ideas, and generosity.
“The world has lost a true creative genius and a special man. I am so proud to have worked together with him.”
Morgan Spurlock. Pic: Pia Torelli/Sipa/Shutterstock
Born on 7 November 1970, Spurlock started off his career as a playwright before creating I Bet You Will – an internet series where members of the public would take part in stunts for cash.
The 2002 webcasts, which saw some dared to eat a full jar of mayonnaise for $235 or take a shot of cod liver oil, were eventually bought by MTV.
Spurlock rose to fame with his 2004 documentary Super Size Me, where he exclusively ate at McDonald’s for 30 days to investigate the rise of obesity in the US.
He ate an average of 5,000 calories a day, always took a “super-size” meal if offered and exercised less to match the average American’s physical activity at the time.
By the end of his experiment, he claimed he put on 25lbs (11.3kg) and started suffering from depression and liver dysfunction.
Spurlock’s documentary grossed $22million in the global box office and was nominated for an Oscar.
It also prompted McDonald’s to stop offering its “super-size” option in 2004.
However the film’s findings were called into question as Spurlock refused to share his meal logs. He also later admitted to alcohol abuse in 2017, which other documentary makers said explained his liver issues and poor mental health.
In 2019, Spurlock released his second expose against the fast-food industry with Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!
The documentary sees him open his own restaurant and “become part of the problem” while tackling claims of healthy meals at big chain restaurants.
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