Month: May 2023

On Thursday, four members of the far-right Proud Boys organization were found guiltyof seditious conspiracy in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Enrique Tarrio, Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean and Zachary Rehl were found guilty on charges of seditious conspiracy, under a Civil War-era statute. They now likely face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Dominic Pezzola, another member of the group, was found not guilty of seditious conspiracy. U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly declared a mistrial on that count for Pezzola after the jury said it could not come to an agreement.

All five Proud Boys members were charged on nine counts in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, while Pezzola — who was caught on video smashing in a window with a Capitol Police shield during the breach, and who admitted to his behavior on the stand — was separately charged with a tenth count of stealing the police shield and found guilty Thursday. Pezzola was also found guilty of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers, while the other four defendants were acquitted on that charge. Tarrio, Biggs, Nordean and Rehl were also found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.

The Proud Boys trial was the third seditious conspiracy case to go before jurors since the Capitol attack: Six members of the far-right Oath Keepers group, including founder Stewart Rhodes, were convicted on that charge across two trials in November and January. Prosecutors argued that the Proud Boys were “thirsting for violence” on Jan. 6 and had organized in advance to stop certification of President Joe Biden’s win by “any means necessary, including by force.”

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Police in Davis, California announced on Thursday that an arrest has been made in connection with three stabbings — two of which resulted the death of a UC Davis college senior, and a homeless man.

Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel said at a news conference that the suspect was identified by police as 21-year-old Carlos Dominguez of Davis. He was a student at UC Davis as os last week, and was arrested on Thursday for two counts of homicide and one count of attempted homicide. The Davis Police Department said on Facebook that their dispatch center and TIP hotline received a call about a person matching the description of the suspect on Wednesday, reporting seeing someone who matched the suspect description and indicated that the person was seen in Sycamore Park and around surrounding areas. Officers went to the area and the person was found at Pine Lane and Colby Drive, near where the second stabbing took place. The suspect was found with a large fixed-blade knife, and based on information and evidence so far, Dominguez was arrested and charged with two counts of murder for David Breaux and Karim Abou Najm; and a count of attempted murder for Kimberlee Guillory, who is recovering from her injuries.

All of the stabbings occurred in Davis, California which is about 15 miles west of Sacramento. There are about 67,000 residents in the city and 13,000 students who live at UC Davis. The first death was reported last Thursday when David Henry Breaux, 50, was found on a bench; on Saturday, a second victim was found and identified as Karim Abou Najm; and on Monday, Kimberlee Guillory, a homeless woman in her 60s, was found stabbed. Although the first and third victims were homeless, they were not being targeted because of their living situation, Police Chief Pytel said.  Dominguez will be arraigned at the Yolo County Courthouse as soon as Monday.

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