Ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio gets 22-year prison sentence, longest yet from Jan. 6 riot

Henry "Enrique" Tarrio, leader of The Proud Boys, attends a protest showing support for Cubans demonstrating against their government, in Miami, Florida on July 16, 2021.

Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right group Proud Boys, was sentenced to 22 years in prison Tuesday after being convicted of seditious conspiracy to disrupt the 2020 presidential election certification on Jan. 6, 2021.

Tarrio's sentence is four years longer than the second-longest prison term received by any of the 1,100-plus people who have so far been charged in connection with the Capitol riot.

The Department of Justice sought to put Tarrio behind bars for 33 years, saying he used his skills as a "naturally charismatic leader" and "savvy propagandist" to organize and execute the plan to forcibly stop the peaceful transfer of power from former President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden.

A defense attorney for Tarrio had asked the judge to issue a sentence of no longer than 15 years.

Before he was sentenced, Tarrio approached the bench to express remorse and to disavow some of his statements surrounding the events of Jan. 6.

"To the men and women of law enforcement who answered the call that day, I'm sorry," Tarrio said, NBC News reported.

Tarrio said he "failed miserably" to hold himself to a higher moral standard. "I thought of myself morally above others and this trial has humbled me," he said.

But U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly appeared unmoved by Tarrio's remarks.

"I don't have any indication that he's remorseful for the actual things that he's convicted of," the judge said before sentencing the former Proud Boys chair to more than two decades in prison.

Tarrio, 39, was convicted in May on six felonies including seditious conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding and destruction of government property.

Kelly last week delivered lower sentences than what prosecutors requested for Tarrio's co-defendants, three of whom were also convicted of seditious conspiracy.

But they hardly got off scot-free. Ethan Nordean, who led the Seattle chapter of the Proud Boys, on Friday was sentenced to 18 years in prison, tying him with Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes for the longest Jan. 6-related sentence prior to Tarrio's.