Proud Boys leader Joseph Biggs was handed one of the most severe sentences related to the January 6 insurrection after being convicted of seditious conspiracy and other charges. District Judge Timothy Kelly sentenced Biggs to 17 years in prison, the second longest sentence given so far related to the fatal riot at the Capitol.

CNN covered the news as it broke, and senior justice correspondent Evan Perez told CNN News Central host Jim Sciutto that Biggs’ sentence was just one year less than the longest sentence so far of 18 years, which was given to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes. Perez also said that Biggs expressed in court that he was remorseful:

“I know that I have to be punished and I understand,” but added “please give me the chance, I beg you, to take my daughter to school and pick her up.”

“I know that I messed up that day, but I am not a terrorist,” he said through tears. Biggs said that he was “seduced” by the mob and “just moved forward.”

“I wanted to see what would happen,” he said. “My curiosity got the best of me and I’m going to have to live with that for the rest of my life.”

What “happened,” and what was proven in court, according to CNN, was that Biggs engaged in a seditious conspiracy to disrupt the peaceful transition of power on January 6, 2021. He “was subject to harsher sentencing penalties for domestic terrorism because he ripped down a fence on Capitol grounds during the riot that separated law enforcement officers from the mob, taking the mob one step closer to breaching the Capitol.” Prosecutors also presented evidence that Biggs and other Proud Boys “plotted and broadly encouraged violence” before the insurrection took place.

Biggs was one of five Proud Boys accused of seditious conspiracy related to January 6. Judge Kelly told Biggs: “That day broke our tradition of peaceful transfer of power. We don’t have it anymore.”

Watch the video via CNN.

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