The Justice Department's criminal case against four Proud Boys members for the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack is over for good. "Dismissed with prejudice" is a legal term meaning the charges cannot be revived under any future administration. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, signed the order Friday after concluding that longstanding constitutional principles left him no power to block the government's own decision to abandon the case.
What the court could, and could not, do
Kelly made his position clear from the start: he was not endorsing the outcome. In a seven-page opinion, he wrote that the court's approval of the dismissal should not be mistaken for agreement with the decisions that produced it. He pointed to separation of powers, the doctrine that divides authority among the three branches of government and reserves charging decisions for the executive. Because the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals had already vacated the four men's convictions before the case returned to his courtroom, Kelly said denying the motion would have changed nothing. There were no convictions left to protect, and courts cannot compel federal prosecutors to pursue a case they have chosen to drop.
Kelly also rebuked the January 6 rioters directly, calling the attack a blow against the people, Congress, and the constitutional mechanism for the peaceful transfer of power.
How the prosecution unraveled
The Justice Department first moved in April to vacate the convictions and dismiss the indictment, saying doing so was "in the interests of justice." The stated basis was President Donald Trump's January 20, 2025, executive order commuting sentences and issuing full pardons to former Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio and hundreds of other January 6 defendants. Tarrio, who had also faced criminal charges related to the attack, responded to Kelly's ruling on X, writing that the pardons caused the case to crumble and describing the outcome as a victory.
What the four men had originally been convicted of
Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, and Zachary Rehl were each convicted of seditious conspiracy, a charge that means a criminal agreement to use force to oppose lawful U.S. government authority. All three also faced convictions for conspiracy to obstruct Congress's certification of the 2020 presidential election, obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder, and destruction of government property.
Dominic Pezzola's record was different. He was acquitted of seditious conspiracy but convicted of assaulting police, robbery, and destroying government property. Prosecutors said Pezzola stole a Capitol Police riot shield and used it to smash a Capitol window, which they identified as the first breach point through which hundreds of rioters entered the building. All four convictions had been vacated by the D.C. Circuit before Kelly's Friday order closed the indictment permanently.