Nicholas Ochs | |
---|---|
Born | 1985or1986(age 38–39) [1] |
Alma mater | University of Hawaiʻi |
Employer | United States Marine Corps |
Organization | Proud Boys |
Known for | January 6 United States Capitol attack criminality |
Political party | Republican |
Conviction(s) | Obstructing an official proceeding (18 U.S.C. § 1512) |
Criminal penalty | 4 years imprisonment |
Nicholas Ochs (born 1985 or 1986), sometimes Nick Ochs, is an American convicted felon, former U.S. Marine, a 2020 Republican Hawaii House of Representatives candidate, and the founder of the Proud Boys' Hawaii chapter.
After taking part in January 6 United States Capitol attack, he pleaded guilty to obstructing a federal proceeding and was sentenced to four years in prison. He was pardoned on January 20, 2025, by Donald Trump.
Ochs attended the University of Hawaiʻi. [2]
Ochs has worked as a U.S. Marine, based in Hawaii. [3]
In November 2020, [2] Ochs ran as a Republican candidate to represent the Waikiki [4] neighborhood in the Hawaii House of Representatives. [1] He won the primary but lost the general election [2] to Democratic candidate Adrian Tam. [5] During the election, Ochs's campaign page was removed from Facebook for breaching the company's terms of service. [5] Ochs won 29.7% of the vote, Tam won 63%. [6] Ochs's campaign was endorsed by Roger Stone. [7]
January 6 United States Capitol attack |
---|
Timeline • Planning |
Background |
Participants |
Aftermath |
Ochs is a high ranking "elder" of the Proud Boys right wing neo-fascist organization. [2] In 2021 during the January 6 United States Capitol attack, Ochs threw smoke bombs at police officers and trespassed into the United States Capitol where he smoked cigarettes. [3] The same day, he posted a photograph in front of the words "Murder the Media". [1]
In September 2022, Ochs pleaded guilty to obstructing a federal proceeding in a joint prosecution with Nicolas DeCarlo. [3] During his court appearance, Ochs claimed he was a journalist. [2] In December 2022, he was fined $5,000, and sentenced to four years in prison, and three years of supervised release. [3] [8] In November 2024, his conviction was vacated following the Supreme Court's decision in Fischer v. United States , and he was released pending a new trial. [9] On January 16, 2025, he and co-defendent Nicholas DeCarlo were re-indicted on nine counts in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. [10] He was pardoned on January 20, 2025, by Donald Trump. [11]
Klete Derik Keller is an American former competitive swimmer. Before retiring from swimming in 2008, he won five Olympic medals including two golds, at the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Summer Olympics in the 400-meter freestyle and the 4×200-meter freestyle relay.
Seditious conspiracy is a crime in various jurisdictions of conspiring against the authority or legitimacy of the state. As a form of sedition, it has been described as a serious but lesser counterpart to treason, targeting activities that undermine the state without directly attacking it.
The Proud Boys is a North American far-right, neo-fascist militant organization that promotes and engages in political violence. The group's leaders have been convicted of violently opposing the federal government of the United States, including its constitutionally prescribed transfer of presidential power. It has been called a street gang and was designated as a terrorist group in Canada and New Zealand. The Proud Boys are opposed to left-wing and progressive groups and support President Donald Trump. While Proud Boys leadership has denied being a white supremacist organization, the group and some of its members have been connected to white supremacist events, ideologies, and other white-power groups throughout its existence.
Henry "Enrique" Tarrio is an American convicted seditionist and far-right activist. From 2018 to 2021, he was the chairman of the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist organization that promotes and engages in political violence in the United States. Along with three other Proud Boys leaders, Tarrio was convicted in May 2023 of seditious conspiracy for his role in the 2021 United States Capitol attack. In September 2023, Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison, before being pardoned by US president Donald Trump following his return to office on January 20, 2025.
Joseph Randall Biggs is an American veteran, media personality, organizer of the Proud Boys, and convicted felon for his participation in the January 6 United States Capitol attack.
Adrian Tam is an American politician serving as a member of the Hawaii House of Representatives. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the interim Chair of the Democratic Party of Hawaii.
On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., was attacked by a mob of supporters of then-president Donald Trump in an attempted self-coup d'état, two months after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. They sought to keep him in power by preventing a joint session of Congress from counting the Electoral College votes to formalize the victory of the president-elect Joe Biden. The attack was ultimately unsuccessful in preventing the certification of the election results. According to the bipartisan House select committee that investigated the incident, the attack was the culmination of a seven-part plan by Trump to overturn the election. Within 36 hours, five people died: one was shot by the Capitol Police, another died of a drug overdose, and three died of natural causes, including a police officer who died of natural causes a day after being assaulted by rioters. Many people were injured, including 174 police officers. Four officers who responded to the attack died by suicide within seven months. Damage caused by attackers exceeded $2.7 million.
Jonathan Derrick Evans is an American far-right politician and convicted felon who served as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates for the 19th district from December 1, 2020, to January 9, 2021.
Jacob Anthony Angeli Chansley, also known as the QAnon Shaman, Q Shaman, and Yellowstone Wolf, is an American far-right conspiracy theorist who participated in the January 6 United States Capitol attack, for which he was convicted after a guilty plea on charges of obstructing an official proceeding. He is a supporter of Donald Trump and a former believer and disseminator of the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Ethan Nordean, also known as Rufio Panman, is an American far-right political activist, convicted felon and a leader of the Proud Boys, an all-male neo-fascist organization that engages in political violence.
Dominic Pezzola is an American convicted felon and member of the Proud Boys who participated in the January 6 United States Capitol attack, a violent attack at the U.S. Capitol. He is best known for stealing a police riot shield and using it to break a Capitol window on January 6, 2021, making him the first rioter to breach the building. Indicted in 2021, on federal charges, he was tried in 2023 alongside Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and his key lieutenants, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, and Zachary Rehl. In May 2023, following a five-month jury trial, Pezzola was convicted of obstructing a congressional proceeding, assaulting a police officer, and other crimes. He was acquitted of seditious conspiracy, the most serious charge. The jury deadlocked on other charges against Pezzola, including conspiring to obstruct the counting of the electoral votes.
The investigation of the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol building was the largest criminal probe in U.S. history. Four years after the attack, everyone involved received clemency from President Donald Trump.
Corruptly obstructing, influencing, or impeding an official proceeding is a felony under U.S. federal law. It was enacted as part of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 in reaction to the Enron scandal, and closed a legal loophole on who could be charged with evidence tampering by defining the new crime very broadly.
Kelly Meggs is an American convicted felon who previously led the Oath Keepers' Florida chapter. He was found guilty of seditious conspiracy following his forced entry into the United States Capitol during the January 6 United States Capitol attack. Meggs was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Hours after his inauguration on 20 January 2025, Donald Trump commuted his sentence to time served.
Ronald Sandlin is an American internet marketer who took part in the January 6 United States Capitol attack.
Jeremy Bertino is an American former member of the Proud Boys who testified against Enrique Tarrio during his trial for seditious conspiracy for his role in the 2021 United States Capitol attack. Bertino was the first Proud Boys member to plead guilty to the same charge. On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump commuted his sentence to "time served".
After Donald Trump lost the 2020 United States presidential election, multiple individuals plotted to use force to stop the peaceful transition of power; this was one aspect of what eventually led to the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol.
On January 20, 2025, during the first day of his second term, United States President Donald Trump issued a proclamation that granted clemency to about 1,200 people convicted of offenses related to the January 6 United States Capitol attack that occurred near the end of his first presidential term.