A federal jury in Fort Worth convicted eight people on terrorism charges tied to a shooting outside the Prairieland Detention Center, prosecutors said, in a case they connected to antifa.
Prosecutors said the violence occurred outside the immigration detention center in Alvarado, near Fort Worth, and federal authorities pursued terrorism-related charges they said were based on the defendants’ alleged involvement with antifa. The Justice Department characterized the violence as an attack plotted by antifa operatives, according to the report; attorneys for the accused denied that characterization.
U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, an appointee of President Donald Trump, presided over the nearly three-week trial in Fort Worth. The jury also found one defendant guilty of attempted murder after prosecutors said he opened fire last summer outside the facility and wounded a police officer.
In a statement after the verdict, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said, “Today’s verdict on terrorism charges will not be the last as the Trump administration systematically dismantles Antifa and finally halts their violence on America’s streets,” the report said. The case drew close attention from legal experts and critics who said the proceedings could show how far prosecutors can go to punish protesters.
The report said FBI Director Kash Patel had previously said the case was the first time charges of providing material support to terrorists targeted people accused of being antifa members. Antifa, prosecutors and the report described, is not a single organization but an umbrella term used for far-left militant groups that confront or resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.
Defense attorneys told jurors there was no plan for violence on July 4 outside the facility in Alvarado, the report said. They said most protesters began leaving when two guards from the center came outside, before any shots were fired, and they denied that the incident was an antifa ambush.
Prosecutors said Benjamin Song, a former U.S. Marine Corps reservist, yelled “get to the rifles” and opened fire, striking an officer who had just pulled up to the center. The report said prosecutors charged several other protesters with attempted murder of an officer and discharging a firearm, but the jury found them not guilty.
The report said Alvarado Police Lt. Thomas Gross testified that when he responded, he saw a person clad in all-black with their face covered and carrying a rifle. Gross told jurors he was shot with a round that went into his shoulder and out of his neck.
Song’s attorney, Phillip Hayes, argued in closing that there was no call to arms before Gross arrived and that Gross “aggressively” pulled out his firearm, the report said. Hayes also suggested Song’s shots were “suppressive fire,” and he argued that a ricochet bullet was what hit the officer.
There were nine defendants on trial, the report said. Eight faced the terrorism-related material-support charge and other counts, while the ninth defendant, Daniel Sanchez Estrada, faced charges of corruptly concealing a document and conspiracy to conceal documents; the jury found him guilty of both.
Estrada’s attorney, Christopher Weinbel, said he could not believe the jurors reached their conclusion. Weinbel told jurors in remarks reported by the AP that he had hoped that what he said he sacrificed “meant something,” and he said, “The U.S. lost today with this verdict,” according to the report.
The AP report also said several people pleaded guilty earlier to providing material support to terrorists after being accused of supporting antifa, with sentencing described as potentially carrying up to 15 years. Some of those who pleaded guilty testified for the prosecution, including Seth Sikes, who told jurors he went to the detention center because he wanted to bring “some joy to those held inside,” and he said, “I felt like I was doing the right thing.”
The terrorism charges followed Trump’s order last fall to designate antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, the report said. It also said critics argued the prosecution’s approach could have wide-reaching effects on protest activity, because terrorism charges in the case did not require a tie to an organization in the way foreign-terror designations do, and because U.S.-based groups are generally protected by First Amendment rights.
Suzanne Adely, interim president of the National Lawyers Guild, said the government wanted to squash opposition and that a case like this helps prosecutors determine how far they can go in criminalizing constitutionally protected protests while increasing fear in other cities, the report said.