Former Proud Boys leader sentenced in Jan. 6 case

A former Proud Boys leader was sentenced Tuesday to more than three years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, according to court records.

Charles Donohoe, 35, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly to 40 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release on two felony counts: conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and one count of assaulting, resisting or impeding a law enforcement officer.

Donohoe was the second Proud Boys leader to plea guilty to the charges last year, when he agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors’ investigation into the right-wing group’s alleged role in organizing members to obstruct the certification of the 2020 election results.

Donohoe could be eligible for release in the coming months as he gets credit for the jail time he already served since being arrested in March 2021, The Associated Press (AP) reported.

During his sentencing Tuesday, Donohoe apologized to family members, the law enforcement officers who were working on Jan. 6 and “America as a whole” for his actions, the wire service added.

“I knew what I was doing was illegal from the very moment those barricades got knocked down,” he said, per The AP.

Kelly on Tuesday said Donohoe appears to be taking actions to make amends for his conduct, telling him in court, “I think you’ve got all the ingredients here to put this behind you.”

Donohoe, of Kernersville, N.C., was the former leader of the Proud Boys chapter in that state.

Donohoe fell under the direction of the organization’s national leader, Enrique Tarrio, who was sentenced in September to 22 years in prison. Tarrio’s sentence marked the highest so far given to any defendant charged in the riot by four years.

Tarrio, alongside three other former Proud Boys leaders, was convicted by a jury in May of seditious conspiracy charges. While Donohoe agreed to cooperate with the federal investigation into the group, he was not called to testify at the trial of Tarrio and the other Proud Boys earlier this year, the AP noted.

Federal prosecutors sought a sentence of 35 to 43 months for Donohoe, while the sentencing guidelines recommended a prison term of 70 to 87 months.

Calling him a “trusted lieutenant” of Tarrio, prosecutors said Donohoe was “instrumental” in the aftermath that followed the riot, along with serving a “key role on the ground” during the riots.

On the morning of Jan. 6, Donohoe was among more than 100 Proud Boys members who marched from the Washington Monument towards the Capitol, prosecutors stated. While he did not enter the Capitol, prosecutors said he threw two water bottles at a line of officers and later celebrated that Jan. 6 made him “feel like a complete warrior.”

Donohoe, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, has “eagerly divorced himself” from the Proud Boys, said defense attorney Ira Knight, according to the AP.

“It took Charlie time to understand the nature of his wrong,” Knight said, per the news wire.