CNN
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Members of the far-right group the Proud Boys have been ordered to pay more than $1 million as part of a civil lawsuit involving the December 2020 destruction of property on the predominantly black campus of the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church. in Washington, DC.
D.C. Superior Court Judge Neal E. Kravitz upheld Friday’s default judgment against Proud Boys members Joseph R. Biggs, Enrique Tarrio, Jeremy Bertino and John Turano, as well as the group’s limited liability corporation .
In a scathing order, Kravitz described the “highly orchestrated” and “hateful and overtly racist conduct” of members of the Proud Boys during the “attack” on the Metropolitan AME Church, which allegedly contained a Black Lives Matter poster property of the church. destroyed
CNN has reached out to attorneys for Tarrio and Biggs for comment on the sentencing and is trying to locate attorney information for the other defendants.
A request for comment on the ruling has also been made to the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church.
According to Kravitz’s order, on December 12, 2020, several people wearing Proud Boys costumes “jumped over the fence at Metropolitan AME, entered the church property, and went directly to the sign of Black Lives Matter. They then broke the zip ties holding the sign in place, tore down the sign, threw it on the ground and stomped on it while celebrating loudly. Many others jumped over the fence to church property and joined in celebrating the destruction of the sign.”
Describing the target of the attack, Kravitz wrote, “For generations, Metropolitan AME leaders and members of their congregation have vocally and publicly supported the civil rights and racial justice movements,” adding: “Church leaders and congregants consider supporting the Black Lives Matter movement as a continuation of the church’s mission to advocate for civil rights and racial justice.”
In his rebuke of the Proud Boys, the judge wrote that the group has “incited and committed acts of violence against members of black and African-American communities across the country. They have also victimized women, Muslims, Jews, immigrants and other historically marginalized people “.
The church sought damages as part of the civil suit, in part to repair the sign and increase security after the attack and because of “ongoing threats,” the warrant said.
“The ultimate goal of this lawsuit was not monetary collection, but to prevent the proud boys from acting with impunity, without fear of the consequences of their actions,” the plaintiff’s co-lawyer, Arthur Ago, said in a statement after the trial. “And that’s exactly what we got.”
In July 2021, Tarrio, the group’s leader, pleaded guilty to destruction of property in a criminal case involving the burning of a Black Lives Matter banner at a different, predominantly black church in Washington, and also pleaded guilty to attempted possession of a large capacity. magazine, a violation of local gun control laws. He was later sentenced to more than five months in prison for these crimes.
In May, Tarrio and Biggs were also among four members of the Proud Boys found guilty of seditious conspiracy by a jury in Washington for their role in trying to forcibly prevent the peaceful transfer of power from President Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 elections. .
This title has been updated.
