Judge dismisses convictions of four Proud Boys Jan 6 attack

A federal judge on July 10, 2026, dismissed the criminal convictions of four Proud Boys members for their roles in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, granting a Justice Department request that followed President Donald Trump's executive order granting clemency to hundreds of defendants. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, appointed by Trump in 2017, reluctantly approved the motion to dismiss the case with prejudice against Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola, permanently closing the prosecution.

Judge Kelly wrote in a seven-page opinion that while he was compelled by legal precedent to grant the government's request, his decision should not be seen as an endorsement of the administration's actions. He cited the executive branch's constitutional authority over charging decisions, stating that a judge cannot compel prosecutors to pursue a case they have chosen to drop. "Because the decisions to issue the Executive Order and to abandon this prosecution-even after the Government secured convictions for serious crimes relating to the attack on the Capitol on January 6-are solely the Executive's, no one should mistake the Court's granting of the...