Dallas — A federal jury convicted him on Friday Eight people on terrorism charges over a shooting at an immigration facility in Texas, which federal prosecutors linked to Antifa, the decentralized far-left movement that… You become a target For the Trump administration.
One person was also convicted of attempted murder after prosecutors said he was I opened fire last summer outside the Prairieland Detention Center outside Fort Worth, wounding a police officer. The Justice Department described the violence as an attack orchestrated by Antifa activists, but lawyers for the defendants denied that description, saying there were no Antifa associations and that it was merely a fireworks demonstration before the shooting broke out.
U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, appointed by President Donald Trump, presided over the nearly three-week trial in Fort Worth. It has been closely followed by legal experts and critics who described the measures as a test of how far the government can go to punish protesters.
FBI Director Kash Patel said this case is the first time charges of providing material support to terrorists have targeted people accused of being members of Antifa.
“Today’s sentencing on terrorism charges will not be the last as the Trump administration systematically dismantles Antifa and finally stops their violence on America’s streets,” US Attorney Pam Bondi said.
Short for “anti-fascists,” Antifa is not a single organization, but rather an umbrella term for far-left armed groups that confront or resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.
Defense attorneys told jurors there was no plan to commit violence on July 4 outside the facility in Alvarado.
There were nine defendants on trial in total, eight of whom face charges of providing material support to terrorists, among other charges. The ninth defendant, Daniel Sanchez Estrada, was charged with corruptly concealing a document and conspiracy to conceal documents. He was found guilty of both.
Sanchez Estrada’s attorney, Christopher Weinbel, said he did not believe the jury “came to that conclusion.” Weinbel said he participated as a member of the military several times to defend the United States, and he hoped what he sacrificed “meant something.”
“But I feel like she turned her back on justice with this,” Winbel said. “The United States lost today with this ruling.”
Prosecutor Sean Smith told jurors during closing arguments that the group’s actions — including bringing firearms, first aid to children and wearing body armor — were all signs that the group had nefarious intent. He said they practiced “Antifa tactics” and were “obsessed with operational security.”
The defendants’ lawyers said that there was no planned ambush and that the protesters who brought firearms did so only for their own protection.
The terrorism charges follow Trump’s order last fall to designate Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization. These charges do not require association with any organization, and there is no domestic equivalent to the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations. This is in part because organizations operating within the United States are protected by broad First Amendment rights.
Critics of the Justice Department case said the outcome could have wide-ranging implications for the protests.
“This dissent is something the government wants to crush, so a case like this helps the government see how far it can go in criminalizing protests that are protected by the Constitution and also helps it kind of intimidate and increase fear, hopefully then people in other cities will think twice about protesting,” said Susan Adly, interim president of the National Lawyers Guild, a progressive legal group.
The defendants’ lawyers said that most of the demonstrators began to leave when two guards left the center. That was before any shots were fired.
Prosecutors said Benjamin Song, a former US Marine reservist, shouted “Get to the guns” and opened fire, hitting a police officer who had just stopped at the station.
Although it was Song from the opening fireProsecutors charged several other protesters with attempting to kill an officer and discharging a firearm as well, but they were not convicted. By the group’s planning, it was foreseeable to others that a shooting would occur, prosecutors said.
The officer who was shot, Alvarado Police Lt. Thomas Gross, testified that when he responded to the scene he saw a person dressed all in black with his face covered and holding a rifle. He told jurors that he was shot by a bullet that entered his shoulder and exited through his neck.
Song’s attorney, Philip Hayes, told jurors during closing arguments that there was no call to arms before Gross arrived on the scene and “aggressively” pulled his firearm. Hayes noted that Song’s shots were “suppressive fire” and that it was the ricocheting bullet that struck the officer.
In the run-up to the trial, several people plead guilty To provide material support to terrorists after they were accused of supporting Antifa. They face up to 15 years in prison upon sentencing.
Some of them testified for the prosecution, including Seth Sykes, who said he went to the detention center because he wanted to bring some joy to the detainees inside.
“I felt like I was doing the right thing,” he said.
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Associated Press reporter Jim Vertuno contributed from Austin, Texas.