美国国家公共电台 NPR--Federal jury finds 4 Proud Boys members guilty of seditious conspiracy

Federal jury finds 4 Proud Boys members guilty of seditious conspiracy¹

Transcript²

Former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio and three other members of the far-right group were convicted Thursday on seditious conspiracy charges stemming from the U.S. Capitol siege on Jan. 6, 2021.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The former chairman and three other members of the far-right group, the Proud Boys group, have been found guilty of seditious conspiracy by a federal jury in Washington, D.C. Prosecutors³ said they had a role in planning the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Andy Campbell is a senior editor and reporter at HuffPost and author of the book "We Are Proud Boys," and he joins us now by Skype to talk about these convictions. Good morning.

ANDY CAMPBELL: Good morning. Happy to be here.

FADEL: So what do we know about these convictions, if you could talk about what happened, what just happened?

CAMPBELL: Right. Prosecutors just successfully prosecuted⁵ a very rare charge in seditious conspiracy against 4 out of 5 Proud Boys leaders who had an outsized role in the January 6 attack. And they found that these Proud Boys agreed before the attack to oppose the transfer of presidential power to Joe Biden. Now, a fifth defendant⁶, Dominic Pezzola, who you might remember as the first guy to breach⁷ the Capitol using a stolen police riot shield, they're still deliberating on that charge for him and a number of other charges. But all five defendants⁸ have been found guilty of other charges, including obstruction⁹ of Congress.

FADEL: So a partial verdict. And already this jury had been deliberating for days to get to this point. What has taken so long, you think?

CAMPBELL: Well, it's a complex case with a lot of defendants, each with their own lawyer teams making different arguments. So it's very difficult. And it's a very serious charge that hasn't been brought for a long time. The last time prior to January 6 that this charge was successfully prosecuted was in the '90s, when Islamic militants¹¹ plotted to blow up the U.N. So it's a very serious charge by the government. And the jury had a very serious job here.

FADEL: Put into context more, if you could, how historic these convictions actually are. What is the significance of this?

CAMPBELL: Right. I mean, it means the government means business. They want to show with this charge that they're not going to take armed insurrection. And again, it hasn't been prosecuted for a long time. And the Proud Boys joined their fellow extremists, the Oath Keepers, a militant¹⁰ group also present on January 6, with these guilty verdicts on seditious conspiracy. In January, two leaders of the Oath Keepers militia¹² were found guilty as well. And so this is a very successful prosecution¹³ for the government.

FADEL: Now, obviously, you're very familiar with the Proud Boys. You literally¹⁴ wrote the book "We Are Proud Boys." What has this trial taught us about this group that's maybe new?

CAMPBELL: Well, unfortunately, what it's taught me is that we can't prosecute⁴ our way out of our extremist crisis. The Proud Boys, despite their leaders sitting in jail right now and sitting in jail for a long time now, the Proud Boys are mobilizing across the country - drag queens, story hours and school board meetings and any number of the GOP's grievances¹⁵ which they fight for. And so what we are seeing is that this crisis has not been tamped¹⁶ down despite all of these prosecutions¹⁷.

FADEL: Andy Campbell reports on extremism for HuffPost, and he's the author of "We Are Proud Boys." Thank you so much for your time.

CAMPBELL: Thank you.

1 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

4 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

5 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

6 defendant   

n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的

参考例句：

• The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
• The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。

7 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

8 defendants   

被告( defendant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The courts heard that the six defendants had been coerced into making a confession. 法官审判时发现6位被告人曾被迫承认罪行。
• As in courts, the defendants are represented by legal counsel. 与法院相同，被告有辩护律师作为代表。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

9 obstruction   

n.阻塞，堵塞；障碍物

参考例句：

• She was charged with obstruction of a police officer in the execution of his duty.她被指控妨碍警察执行任务。
• The road was cleared from obstruction.那条路已被清除了障碍。

10 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

11 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

12 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

13 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

14 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

15 grievances   

n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚

参考例句：

• The trade union leader spoke about the grievances of the workers. 工会领袖述说工人们的苦情。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He gave air to his grievances. 他申诉了他的冤情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 tamped   

v.捣固( tamp的过去式和过去分词 )；填充；（用炮泥）封炮眼口；夯实

参考例句：

• The poets, once so praised, are tamped unceremoniously together in our textbooks, in one curt chapter. 那些名噪一时的诗人，在今天的教科书里，已被毫不客气地挤在一起，列为短短的一章。 来自辞典例句
• They tamped down the earth around the apple tree. 他们把苹果树周围的泥土夯实。 来自互联网

17 prosecutions   

起诉( prosecution的名词复数 )； 原告； 实施； 从事

参考例句：

• It is the duty of the Attorney-General to institute prosecutions. 检察总长负责提起公诉。
• Since World War II, the government has been active in its antitrust prosecutions. 第二次世界大战以来，政府积极地进行着反对托拉斯的检举活动。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件