(Tribune News Service) — If you have been waiting to hear what a Kernersville man had to say about his involvement in the leadership of the far-right Proud Boys at the Jan. 6, 2021, riot and storming of the U.S. Capitol, you're going to have to keep waiting.

The trial of five Proud Boys leaders began in January, and testimony ended last week without Charles "Charley" Donohoe ever being called as a witness. Closing arguments in the trial began Monday.

Donohoe pleaded guilty in April 2022 to conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and assaulting an officer and agreed to help prosecutors. Donohoe reportedly was in charge of setting up the online messaging groups that the Proud Boys used in the weeks leading to Jan. 6 as well as its aftermath, and those messages have been key to the prosecution case.

It's not necessarily surprising that someone important to a criminal investigation was not called to testify, said Scott Ingram, an associate professor of criminal justice at High Point University who is a former federal prosecutor. Ingram has not followed the Proud Boys case closely but said that in general there are common reasons not to call a cooperating witness.

"He may not have been that cooperative, or he may not come across well," he said.

Even someone who has pleaded guilty may not be remorseful about what he has done, which could alienate the jury, he said. Or he could be reluctant to offer in court everything he previously told prosecutors.

"And sometimes they will change their story," Ingram said. "It makes things worse."

Donohoe was the first Proud Boys leader to plead guilty, and shortly after he did, a new indictment against the remaining ones charged them with seditious conspiracy.

Another leader from North Carolina, Jeremy Bertino of Belmont, pleaded guilty in October to seditious conspiracy and agreed to cooperate. Bertino was called as a witness during the trial, telling the jury that the Proud Boys leaders grew increasingly desperate about Donal Trump remaining president, and that he and and other Proud Boys believed Jan. 6 would be an "all-out revolution."

The next chance for the public to gain any insight into how cooperative Donohoe has been will be when prosecutors file an update about it ahead of Donohoe's sentencing hearing, which has not yet been scheduled because the trial has not ended.

Although Donohoe did not testify, his name came up frequently during the trial in

prosecutors' exhibits and questions, including on the final day of testimony by Dominic Pezzola, one of the five Proud Boys leaders who are on trial together.

As part of his plea agreement, Donohoe admitted to being part of the leadership of the far-right group the Proud Boys who planned an assault on the Capitol to try to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.

"At least as early as January 4, 2021, ... Donohoe was aware that members of ... leadership were discussing the possibility of storming the Capitol," according to a court filing that accompanied the plea agreement. "Donohoe believed that storming the Capitol would achieve the group's goal of stopping the government from carrying out the transfer of presidential power."

Donohoe, a Marine Corps veteran, was indicted and arrested in March 2021 and has been held behind cars since then.

(c)2023 The High Point Enterprise (High Point, N.C.)

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