Enrique Tarrio, the former national chairman of the Proud Boys, is anticipated to take the stand on Thursday during the trial of Shane Lamond, a retired police officer from Washington, D.C. Lamond is facing allegations related to leaking confidential information to Tarrio following an incident where the Proud Boys members set fire to a stolen Black Lives Matter banner.
Defense lawyers representing Lamond plan to call Tarrio as their initial witness in the federal case, which involves accusations of obstructing justice and providing false statements regarding his communications with Tarrio. The prosecution concluded its case against Lamond on Wednesday.
Tarrio is currently serving a prison sentence of 22 years due to his involvement in the January 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, where a group of Donald Trump supporters attempted to overturn the 2020 election results. He and other Proud Boys leaders were convicted of seditious conspiracy, aimed at disrupting the peaceful transition of presidential power from Trump to Biden.
The trial will be overseen by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who will determine Lamond’s fate based on the evidence without a jury’s involvement. Earlier in the week, the judge mentioned that Tarrio was waiting to see the outcome of the recent presidential election before deciding on his testimony for Lamond’s case. Trump, who is president-elect, has previously indicated his willingness to pardon individuals convicted in relation to the Capitol riots, potentially including Tarrio.
In a separate case, Tarrio received a sentence of more than five months for his role in burning the aforementioned banner, which he had stolen from a historic Black church in December 2020, along with charges of possessing high-capacity firearm magazines in the city. Prior to the Capitol riot, Tarrio was apprehended in Washington two days before the events unfolded. Although he was not present during the siege, he was implicated in the events leading up to it.
During the opening statements on Monday, a prosecutor characterized Lamond as a “Proud Boys sympathizer,” claiming he provided advance warning to Tarrio regarding his imminent arrest related to the banner burning and subsequently misled investigators regarding their interactions. Lamond, who had been in contact with Tarrio since 2019, was affiliated with the intelligence division of the police department’s Homeland Security Bureau, primarily tasked with monitoring groups such as the Proud Boys during their activities in Washington.
The indictment against Lamond alleges that he provided falsehoods and confused federal investigators about his relationship with Tarrio when questioned in June 2021. One of the final government witnesses, acting MPD Capt. Nicole Copeland, who oversaw the investigation into the banner incident, testified that knowledge of Tarrio’s private admission to Lamond would have been beneficial for the investigation. Tarrio had also publicly confessed to burning the banner on social media and during a podcast.
Arrested in May 2023, Lamond, who is from Stafford, Virginia, retired from his position within the police department the same month.
