Proud Boy who smashed Capitol window with police shield on Jan. 6 sentenced to 10 years

Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola, who smashed a Capitol window with a police shield during the Jan. 6 riot, was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison.

Pezzola was one of five members of the far-right extremist group to stand trial for seditious conspiracy over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The 46-year-old, who joined the Proud Boys shortly before the riot, was the only member acquitted on the seditious conspiracy charge. 

However, Pezzola was convicted on several other serious charges, including assaulting, resisting or impeding a police officer, robbery of government property, and destruction of government property. 

“The reality is you were the one who did it,” U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said during Pezzola’s sentencing hearing Friday, according to CNN. “You were the one who smashed that window in and let people begin to stream into the Capitol building and threaten the lives of our lawmakers.”

“You were really, in some ways, the tip of the spear,” the judge added.

Pezzola offered his apologies Friday to the police officer he assaulted at the Capitol, as well as his own family, and he sobbed as his youngest daughter urged the judge to “give him some mercy,” according to CNN.

However, as he left the courtroom, Pezzola also raised his fist and yelled, “Trump won.”

His co-defendants Joe Biggs and Zachary Rehl were sentenced Thursday to 17 years and 15 years in prison, respectively.

The Associated Press contributed.