Zach Rehl case: Trump commutes sentences of Jan. 6 rioters, including former Philadelphia Proud Boys leader

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office pardoning approximately 1,500 Jan. 6 rioters and commuting the sentences of 14 people, including former Philadelphia Proud Boys leader Zach Rehl.

Rehl, a native of Philadelphia’s Port Richmond neighborhood, was facing a sentence of 15 years.

The others who were granted a commutation include: Stewart Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Thomas Caldwell, Jessica Watkins, Roberto Minuta, Edward Vallejo, David Moerschel, Joseph Hackett, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Dominic Pezzola, Jeremy Bertino.

The 14 individuals are those convicted or otherwise charged with engaging in the separate seditious conspiracies mounted by leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to thwart the lawful transfer of power on Jan. 6, 2021.

READ MORE: Trump issues sweeping pardons and commutations for Jan. 6 rioters

Trump also offered a “full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”

Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison after his conviction of seditious conspiracy, was being processed for release from his cell in Louisiana following Trump’s executive action, his lawyer told ABC News Monday evening.

Tarrio was notably sentenced to the longest term of imprisonment among all of the individuals charged in connection with the attack.

Trump was expected to further direct the incoming attorney general to move to dismiss all pending indictments against Jan. 6 defendants who have not yet had their cases fully adjudicated, which would shutter roughly 470 ongoing cases, according to recently released numbers by the District of Columbia U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Current and former DOJ officials have expressed alarm over the potential that Trump would hand down pardons — or otherwise free — violent offenders, citing the potential risk they could seek to target the prosecutors who oversaw their cases, the judges who sentenced them to periods of incarceration, or witnesses who may have testified against them.

Of the nearly 1,600 individuals who have faced charges associated with the Capitol attack, according to figures released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, 608 individuals faced charges for assaulting, resisting or interfering with law enforcement trying to protect the complex that day, the office said. Approximately 140 law enforcement officers were injured during the riot, the DOJ has said.

Craig Sicknick, the brother of the Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick who was killed,called the pardons a “betrayal of decency.”

“The man doesn’t understand pain or suffering of others. He can’t comprehend anyone else’s feelings,” he said.

“We now have no rule of law,” he added.

Craig Sicknick also said he is now personally concerned for his safety.

His brother, Brian, was brutally attacked by rioters, video evidence shows. The 42-year-old military veteran, who worked at the Capitol for 12 years, died a day later after suffering two strokes.

A medical examiner said he died of natural causes, but also said “all that transpired on that day played a role in his condition.”

ABC News contributed to this report.