WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice is asking a federal judge to sentence an Ormond Beach leader of the Proud Boys to 33 years in prison for helping to orchestrate the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
A jury convicted Joseph Biggs, 39, on six counts in May, including conspiracy to commit sedition.
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According to a sentencing memorandum submitted to the federal clerk of court late Thursday, prosecutors want Biggs to spend 33 years in prison as punishment.
“Perhaps more than any other defendant, Biggs promoted the use of force against the government,” the memorandum reads. “Beginning in the days after the election, Biggs declared that the country could face ‘civil war’ because the ‘left’ was ‘radicalizing people by stealing the election.’”
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Biggs was tried along with other members of the Proud Boys organization, including national leader Enrique Tarrio. Prosecutors are also seeking a 33-year prison sentence for him.
“The government’s specific recommendation for Biggs of a sentence of 33 years of incarceration is further justified by the nature and circumstances of Biggs’s individualized conduct, his personal history and characteristics, and the need to protect the public from future crimes by Biggs,” the report reads.
Biggs’ attorneys also filed a sentencing memorandum, where they asked the court for a lighter sentence.
“(Biggs and Rehl) concede at the outset that they violated the law, even not all of the crimes charged herein,” his attorney wrote. “They ask, nonetheless, for a non-guidelines sentence well below the estimate provided in the (Pre-Sentence Investigation).”
Attorney Norman Pattis also claimed Biggs suffers emotional and mental scars from his military service.
“Mr. Biggs struggled with post-traumatic stress (PTSD) after his head injury in Iraq and subsequent to his discharge from the military,” he wrote. “He was intermittently suicidal but reports that he has overcome PTSD and depression in the years since his return to civilian society. He is in good health today.”
Biggs is scheduled to be sentenced at 10:00 a.m. on Aug. 31.
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