On Wednesday, a man who stormed the U.S. Capitol with fellow Proud Boys extremist group members was sentenced to six years in prison for his role in the deadly riot on January 6, 2021. Marc Bru, one of the most unremorseful rioters, showed no signs of regret as he berated and insulted Chief Judge James Boasberg before the sentence was handed down.
Bru repeatedly interrupted the proceedings, calling the judge a “clown” and a “fraud” presiding over a “kangaroo court.” The judge warned him that he could be removed from the courtroom if he continued to disrupt the proceedings. Despite being handcuffed and shackled, Bru boldly declared, “You can give me 100 years and I’d do it all over again,” showing a complete lack of remorse.
Prosecutors described Bru as one of the least remorseful rioters who participated in the attack on the Capitol. They revealed that Bru had planned for an armed insurrection in Portland, Oregon, a few weeks after the deadly riot in Washington, D.C. In a court filing before his sentencing, prosecutors stated that Bru wanted a repeat of January 6, but this time, it would be more violent.
Bru, who had been representing himself with an attorney on standby, has been spewing anti-government rhetoric, seemingly inspired by the sovereign citizen movement. At the start of the hearing, he even demanded that the judge and a prosecutor turn over five years of their financial records.
The judge gave Bru a 10-minute break to confer with his standby lawyer, but the interruptions continued when the hearing resumed. Bru refused to accept any of the terms and conditions set by the judge and once again called him a “clown” and not a “judge.”
Prosecutors had warned the court that Bru intended to disrupt his sentencing. The night before, he had even called in to a vigil outside the jail where he and other rioters were being held, promising to “put on a good show” at his sentencing.
Ultimately, Boasberg convicted Bru of seven charges, including two felonies, after hearing trial testimony without a jury in October. Prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of seven years and three months for Bru, who is a resident of Washington state.
They wrote in a court filing that Bru “appears to have envisioned and been planning for a true armed insurrection,” and his post-conviction comments show that he has only become further radicalized and angry since then.
Bru had absconded before his trial and skipped two court hearings, even boasting on Twitter that the government would have to come and get him if they wanted him. And that is precisely what happened a month later when he was arrested.
During his bench trial, Bru refused to present a defense and repeatedly proclaimed that he did not “consent” to the trial. He also showed contempt for the court and the government, according to prosecutors.
Bru had flown from Portland, Oregon, to Washington, D.C., a day before then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House. He joined dozens of other Proud Boys in marching to the Capitol, where he was one of the first rioters to breach a restricted area near Peace Circle.
Bru grabbed a barricade and shoved it against police officers before joining other rioters inside the Capitol. He even entered the Senate gallery, where he flashed a hand gesture associated with the Proud Boys and posed for selfie photos. In total, he spent about 13 minutes inside the building.
After the riot, Bru exchanged text messages with a friend about buying gas masks in bulk. He also texted a Proud Boys recruit, indicating his desire to “repeat the violence and lawlessness of January 6” in Portland in order to take over the local government.
Prosecutors wrote, “In fact, those text messages indicate that Bru’s chief takeaway from January 6 is that it was not violent enough or not sufficiently dedicated to overthrowing the government. In other words, in the aftermath of January 6, Bru was plotting an armed insurrection, not feeling remorseful.”
The FBI initially arrested Bru in March 2021 in Vancouver, Washington. But after his pretrial release, he was charged with separate drunken driving-related offenses in Idaho and Montana. In July, while secretly living in Montana, Bru was involved in a car accident with a drunken driver. When police officers responded to the collision, they arrested Bru
