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Trump commuted the 17-year prison sentence for Volusia County Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs

Volusia County Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs, who was sentenced to a lengthy term in federal prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, had his sentence commuted by President Donald Trump on Monday.

Biggs, who lived near Ormond Beach, was sentenced to 17 years in prison in August 2023 following a trial in Washington, D.C.

Biggs’ attorney Norman Pattis wrote in an email Monday evening that Trump had commuted Biggs’ sentence.

What does it mean to commute a sentence?

The commutation means Biggs will be released from prison, but the conviction will remain.

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website, Biggs would not be released until December 7, 2035.

Trump pardoned about 1,500 people charged in the attack on the Capitol and commuted the sentences of 14 people, including Biggs and other Proud Boys members, according to a USA Today story. Trump also commuted the sentences of Oath Keepers militia leader Stewart Rhodes.

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Biggs found guilty of seditious conspiracy and other charges

Biggs was one of four Proud Boys found guilty of a seditious conspiracy for their part in inciting Trump’s supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol and disrupt the certification of the 2020 election that declared Joe Biden the winner .

In addition to seditious conspiracy, Biggs was convicted of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of an official procedure; conspiracy to use force, intimidation, or threats to prevent officers of the United States from discharging their duties; interference with law enforcement during a civil disturbance; and destruction of government property.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly sentenced Biggs to 17 years, which the judge said was increased based on a ruling that the crimes constituted terrorism because they were intended to influence the government. But the sentence was still less than the 33 years federal prosecutors had sought.

“I know I made a mistake that day,” Biggs told the judge just before he was sentenced, according to an earlier story, “but I am not a terrorist.”

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Capitol Police: Biggs began ‘turning the tables’ on the police department

Biggs was in the spotlight during a police officer’s testimony about Jan. 6.

U.S. Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards testified at the Jan. 6, 2022 committee hearings that it was Biggs who began “turning the tables” on a handful of police officers and as they faced a crowd of Proud Boys and others on Jan. 6 . , 2021. She said Biggs, using a bullhorn, led rioters into a confrontation with police at a bike rack near the Peace Circle. Edwards testified that she knew when she was being turned into a villain.

Biggs tore down a fence, stormed scaffolding and was among the first rioters to breach the Capitol, prosecutors said. Biggs entered the building a second time and went to the Senate chamber, prosecutors said.

Biggs is among more than 1,532 people from nearly all of the state’s federal prosecutors charged with crimes related to the breach of the Capitol. Of those, more than 571 have been charged with assaulting or obstructing law enforcement, a misdemeanor.

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This article originally appeared in The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia County Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs’ prison sentence commuted

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