We already saw Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio be put away for one of the longest sentences yet in connection with the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill. This took place despite the fact that Tarrio wasn’t even in Washington that day and phone and text records proved that he had been in touch with Capitol Hill police for more than a year prior to the riot. If the feds did that to “send a message” to the rest of the Proud Boys, it looks like the tactic was successful. This week another leader of the group, Charles Donohoe of North Carolina, entered a guilty plea and was given a significantly lighter sentence than Tarrio, though it still seems excessive in light of what he actually did. Donohoe was sentenced to more than three years in prison for his participation in the riot. (Associated Press)

A former leader of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group was sentenced on Tuesday to more than three years behind bars for joining a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol nearly three years ago.

Charles Donohoe was the second Proud Boy to plead guilty to conspiring with other group members to of Congress for certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory. His sentence could be a bellwether for other Proud Boys conspirators who agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors.

Donohoe, 35, of Kernersville, North Carolina, apologized to his family, the law-enforcement officers who guarded the Capitol on Jan. 6 and “America as a whole” for his actions on Jan. 6.

The Justice Department is clearly trying to make an example of the Proud Boys in particular, even as they continue to try to track down every single person who was in or around Washington that day. I’m guessing his attorney pulled him aside and suggested he play ball, pointing to Tarrio’s sentencing as an example. Donohoe issued a lengthy public apology to the CHP and the country as a whole. As a “reward,” he was still given multiple years in prison.

Of course, he almost certainly won’t wind up serving all of that time. Donahoe will be eligible for parole in only a couple of months based on the time he has already served. Like most J6 defendants, he was kept locked up the entire time since March 2021 while awaiting his trial and sentencing. I suppose the judge thought he was demonstrating some compassion by “only” handing down a sentence of three years. He said, “I think you’ve got all the ingredients here to put this behind you.”

So what specific actions did Charles Donohoe perform on January 6 to merit this sentence? He marched with the rest of the Proud Boys from Trump’s speech to Capitol Hill. Once there, he never even entered the Capitol Building with the rest of the rioters. He did, however, throw two water bottles at the police officers. (Keep in mind that they all had shields and riot gear.) Now, that was a bad thing to do and it still technically qualifies as a form of assault, but… come on, man. Is the court telling us that throwing a couple of water bottles merits a sentence twice as long as firebombing a police squad car as we saw during the BLM riots in New York?

Donald Trump has said repeatedly that if he is elected again he would be inclined to pardon most of the J6 rioters. That probably won’t prove to be of much value to Donahoe since he should already be out of jail long before the election even takes place. But if Trump does win, he could still probably do something. A full pardon might be a bit much since Charles did throw a water bottle at an officer. But he could commute any remaining probation time he has, assuming there is any. And that seems like it would be justified here.