FORT WORTH — A jury delivered a mixed verdict Friday afternoon in connection with the shooting of a police officer at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in North Texas last summer, convicting most of the nine members of an alleged “antifa cell” for supporting terrorists and one of the group for attempted murder. It was a landmark verdict in the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on left-wing protesters as what it calls an organized network of “domestic terrorists.”
The charges stemmed from what the defendants’ attorneys called a “noise demonstration” July 4 outside Prairieland Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detention Center in nearby Alvarado, Texas, that left a police officer shot and wounded.
The nine defendants, indicted by a grand jury collectively last fall, include alleged ringleader Benjamin Song, a former Marine reservist; Savanna Batten; Zachary Evetts; Autumn Hill; Meagan Morris; Maricela Rueda; and a couple, Elizabeth and Ines Soto. The accused included a middle school teacher, a college student, a mechanical engineer and a UPS worker.
They faced a combination of charges, including attempted murder, rioting, providing support to terrorists, conspiracy to use and carry explosives and conspiracy to corruptly conceal documents. One of the nine, Daniel Sanchez-Estrada, was not at the scene and was accused of later trying to hide a box of “anti-government propaganda.”
Eight of the defendants (except Sanchez-Estrada) were convicted of providing support for terrorists. Eight of the defendants were convicted as well of riot and the explosives charges, which were fireworks. Only Song was convicted of attempted murder for shooting the officer. Sanchez-Estrada was convicted of concealing documents and conspiracy to conceal documents.
All pleaded not guilty and did not testify at the two-week trial. Most faced potential life sentences. (Sanchez-Estrada faced up to 40 years.) Sentencing has been scheduled for June 18.
The jury began deliberating Wednesday after closing arguments, when prosecutors stacked evidence seized from the accused in front of them: guns, alleged antifa flags and pamphlets. During deliberations, jurors asked to review two books prosecutors entered into evidence, according to federal public defender Christopher Weinbel, who represented one of the defendants: “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook” and “If We Go, We Go On Fire.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Smith argued during closing arguments that the defendants, led by Song, plotted the attack by arming themselves, wearing all black clothing known as “black bloc” to conceal their identities and hiding their phones in bags that prevent police from tracking them — all “antifa tactics,” he said.
“What’s at issue here is using legal things to do illegal things,” Smith said. “Why wear black bloc? Why pay cash for otherwise legal fireworks? Why put your phone in a Faraday bag? The answer is: You know what you’re doing is illegal.”
As the jury watched, Smith displayed slides on a flat-screen TV and said that even though only Song was specifically accused of shooting the officer, the group members “are liable because they know or should have known what Song was going to do” and they “helped him cover it up … because of antifa.” Smith said that after the shooting, the group began deleting messages and hiding “anarchist hate-the-government material.”
Defense attorneys argued the case was politically motivated, the evidence slim. Defendants who were armed had obtained their guns legally, they noted. Pamphlets, zines and books seized from the accused were also legal, evidence of the group’s shared political beliefs, not membership in an organized group, attorneys said.
The attorneys quoted Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, saying that American democracy was on trial. They said the defendants’ chat messages displayed at trial showed they had planned a peaceful demonstration, not a violent attack.
“In America, we don’t prosecute people for their political beliefs,” said Batten’s attorney, Chris Tolbert.
The indictments followed an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that instructed federal law enforcement to take “investigatory and prosecutorial action” against those who financially support antifa, and it labeled the group a “domestic terrorist organization.” That designation isn’t part of existing U.S. law.
“They’re asking you to put protesters in jail for being terrorists,” said Blake Burns, who represented Elizabeth Soto, addressing the jury. “That’s not something that’s happened before. You guys are literally the only people on Earth that can stop that from happening.”
Already this year, federal prosecutors have charged protesters in Minneapolis who opposed the ICE operation there in which two protesters were killed and condemned by then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem as “domestic terrorists.” Noem faced harsh criticism during a Senate hearing earlier this month before Trump removed her from her post.
Short for “anti-fascists,” antifa is a loosely knit movement of far-left activists — often anti-capitalist or anti-state — who oppose fascism and right-wing ideologies.
But prosecutors in the Prairieland case specifically defined antifa in court filings as “a militant enterprise made up of networks of individuals and small groups, primarily ascribing to a revolutionary anarchist or autonomous Marxist ideology, which explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States government, law enforcement authorities and the system of law.”
During the trial, prosecutors walked jurors through events at the ICE facility that led to the charges: A group arrived late on July 4 and began spray-painting anti-police graffiti, slashing tires, destroying a surveillance camera and setting off fireworks at the building. Officers inside called local police.
Alvarado Police Lt. Thomas Gross arrived just before 11 p.m. Song yelled “Get to the rifles!” then allegedly started shooting his AR-15-style rifle with a modified trigger that increased the rate of fire, investigators said.
The bullet passed through Gross’s shoulder and out his neck, narrowly missing his spine. He testified that he believed he had walked into an ambush.
Most of the accused were arrested near the scene, but Song was not arrested for 11 days. Several people not at the demonstration were charged with aiding him by providing disguises, transportation and gear.
Several AR-style rifles were found at the scene, according to the criminal complaint, and some defendants were armed, wearing body armor and carrying two-way radios. Investigators also recovered a flag from the scene that said “Resist Fascism, Fight Oligarchy” and fliers that said “Fight ICE terror with class war.” Prosecutors displayed encrypted Signal chat messages exchanged by some of the accused who discussed attending the gathering armed.
In addition to those tried this month in connection with the Prairieland shooting, seven other people have pleaded guilty to federal charges of providing material support to terrorists in connection with the July 4 attack and face up to 15 years in prison. As part of their pleas, several became “cooperating witnesses” and testified during the trial — testimony that jurors asked to review during deliberations, according to defense attorneys. They are expected to be sentenced by Judge Mark Pittman in coming months.
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