Prairieland Defendants Sentenced Today to Prison Terms Ranging from 30-100 Years

ppanic about 6 hours ago 29 commentsRead Article on prairielanddefendants.com

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dbingham•about 3 hours ago

The National Lawyers Guild released a pretty incredible statement about this trial. They basically were not allowed to mount a defense, in blatant violation of their constitutional rights.

> Alarmingly, this mistrial order is just the latest example of attacks on the Prairieland Defendants’ constitutional rights to access to counsel, a fair and impartial jury, an adequate defense, a public trial, and more. Judge Pittman has made highly unusual moves that suppress defense teams and which federal lawyers have not seen during their entire careers:

[...]

> NLG remains extremely concerned about these cases. Defendants’ First Amendment rights to free expression, assembly, and association; their Sixth Amendment rights to counsel; their Fifth Amendment rights to a public trial; and their Second Amendment rights to bear arms are under attack in North Texas. If unchecked and ignored, this case and the judicial decisions coming from it will set a very dark precedent for the rest of the country.

https://www.nlg.org/all-eyes-on-north-texas/

delichon•about 5 hours ago

> Eight members of a North Texas Antifa terror cell received historic federal sentences on Tuesday, with prison terms ranging from 30 years to life in prison for their roles in the shooting ambush on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility.

https://www.ngocomment.com/p/breaking-exclusive-north-texas-...

chomp•about 4 hours ago

Andy Ngo is an awful person, surely there’s a better source

jauntywundrkind•about 3 hours ago

Yeah, I had no idea until recently. He's basically Mr Anti Anti Fascist, has been telling the White House to go after them.

> Ngo lobbied the administration to name “antifa” a foreign terrorist organization — on par with al Qeada or ISIS — at a White House event in the fall.

https://bsky.app/profile/hannahgais.bsky.social/post/3moyib6...

Used to think he was a kind of harmless idiot, but this is incredibly actively bad & toxic a person.

DivingForGold•about 5 hours ago

Note that Song was a firearms instructor and a United States Marine Corps Veteran .. I gather the State really wanted to send a message with the 100 year sentence handed down to him. But on another note, he did brandish a rifle and shoot a police officer, anyone could expect the worst for that. I guess they can appeal ?

pm90•about 5 hours ago

This is absolutely outrageous. A complete mockery of the criminal justice system and especially of Texas.

jmye•about 2 hours ago

Hardly seems a mockery of Texas. This is pretty on brand for the kind of state and the kind of people that keep re-electing Paxton.

happa•about 5 hours ago

The other side said the same thing when the J6 rioters were sentenced. Likewise, these people will also get pardoned in a couple of years, so it's mostly symbolic.

Exoristos•about 5 hours ago

"Family members and supporters ... called the punishment cruel, callous and starkly disproportionate to the defendants’ actions." The defendants were convicted "on a variety of federal charges, including riot, material support for terrorists, attempted murder, possession and conspiracy to use explosives, and conspiracy to conceal documents."

What is a proportionate sentence for convictions like these? In other words, is there a norm when looking at similar convictions?

NDlurker•about 5 hours ago

There's a guy in my town who murdered a teenage girl then cut her up and threw her in a dumpster. He's got less time than these people.

Exoristos•about 4 hours ago

I'm reading sentencing guidelines for material support of terrorism.[0] It looks like they normally max out at 15 years (20 if in support of certain orgs). I saw somewhere that a study of 261 cases found an average sentence of 13 years. So, ceteris peribus, these do seem extremely high.

0. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R41333

queenkjuul•about 4 hours ago

Well one person got 30 years for "concealing documents" -- they moved a box of anarchist zines from their apartment to their car

tbrownaw•about 3 hours ago

Headline: "for Common Protest Activity"

Body: "material support for terrorists, attempted murder, possession and conspiracy to use explosives"

Um?

Brian_K_White•about 2 hours ago

Um what? The activity in the body aligns with the title.

Even the part that sounds the worst if you take it out of context, was not a murder or even failed attempted murder, but the successful prevention of a murder.

NDlurker•about 5 hours ago

Concealing a document? Conspiracy to conceal a document? What? I need to Google that. Sounds un-constitutional af!

tbrownaw•about 3 hours ago

Hiding evidence tends to be bad, even when that evidence wouldn't itself be a problem without a crime for it to be evidence of.

haswell•about 3 hours ago

Surely not 30 years bad.

queenkjuul•about 4 hours ago

Moved a box of zines to their car

pseudo0•about 4 hours ago

In the context of trying to hide the evidence after a member of their anarchist collective shot a law enforcement officer in the neck...

tastyface•about 4 hours ago

Accessory to assault on a police officer? What luck! That happens to be exactly the crime our beloved president pardoned a bunch of people for recently.

MisterMower•about 3 hours ago

I guess these guys think attempted murder and possession of explosives is “common protest activity”?

breakyerself•about 2 hours ago

What about moving a box of zines?

MisterMower•about 1 hour ago

Estrada was convicted of "intending to conceal the box’s contents and impair its availability for use in a federal grand jury and federal criminal proceeding," not for just moving a box of zines. [1]

Tampering with evidence is a serious crime. I suppose you think that Trump's mishandling of classified information was just "moving a box of documents", too?

1. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/antifa-cell-members-convicted...

tastyface•7 minutes ago

What was Trump's punishment?