Washington state Proud Boy convicted in Jan. 6 case

A member of the far-right Proud Boys militia group from Washington state was found guilty Tuesday of felonies related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, the Department of Justice announced.

Marc Bru was found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding, civil disorder and multiple misdemeanors related to participating in the riots and entering the Capitol.

Prosecutors said Bru attended the Capitol attack with other members of the Proud Boys, wrestled over barricades with police and later entered the building and the Senate chamber. 

“When police officers tried to use bicycle rack barricades to force the rioters backward, Bru charged the barricades, grabbed one, and used his entire body weight to prevent the police from moving it forward,” the Justice Department said in a statement. “An officer tried to spray Bru with a chemical irritant to get him to let go, but Bru ducked and avoided it, leading another officer to force Bru to retreat.”

In the weeks following the riots, Bru told a man who was interested in joining the Proud Boys that he was also planning a takeover of the Oregon state capitol modeled on the Jan. 6 insurrection.

He failed to appear at a video court hearing in June. In private messages after that hearing later included in court documents, he invoked “sovereign citizen” language.

“I’m done entertaining their bullshit. If they want me they will come get me. I’m drawing a f—ing line in the sand,” he said. “I will not submit to a totalitarian belligerent de facto regime. … I’d rather die free than submit to f—in tyrants.”

Bru will be sentenced Jan. 8. 

More than 1,100 people have been charged with crimes related to the Capitol attack, the Justice Department said, including about 400 charged with assaulting police officers.