A Proud Boys leader seen leading the march of his fellow members toward the Capitol on Jan. 6 was hit Friday with 18 years behind bars, matching the longest sentence handed down to any rioter. Ethan Nordean, 33—also known as “Rufio Panman”—was convicted in May of seditious conspiracy and other charges alongside several Proud Boys co-defendants, including Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl. Federal prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 27 years in court filings, citing the combination of obstruction of justice and terrorism with his sedition charge. During the sentencing hearing, Nordean’s attorney, Nick Smith, argued the terrorism shouldn’t apply to him because he was still drunk from the night before Jan. 6, according to WUSA9 reporter Jordan Fischer. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said he had no “evidence that Mr. Nordean was intoxicated from the way he was carrying himself” in footage from the insurrection. The only other Jan. 6 rioter given a sentence as long as Nordean’s was Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was also convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
