Nine Prairieland Defendants Found Guilty in First ‘Antifa’ Test Case

Using counterterrorist moral panic to target domestic dissent has been on the cards since 2001. It was always going to become a wedge for totalitarianism. A terrorist state needs to project its own violence onto its victims to reconstuct itself a solution to conflict of its own making. The Palestinians and the Kurds are the only group in the Middle East who aren’t terrorists, but sure it’s regular people endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights daring to exercise them who are the real menace to peace.

Sean Summers, Unicorn Riot || Fort Worth, TX – After two days of deliberations, a jury in the contentious Prairieland trial found all nine defendants guilty on a list of federal crimes. The decision marks a significant blow to protest movements under the Trump administration, which has used the case as a legal test for criminalizing a wide range of historically protected activity.

The jury returned guilty verdicts on Friday afternoon, convicting Savanna Batten, Zachary Evetts, Autumn Hill, Meagan Morris, Maricela Rueda, Benjamin Song, Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada, Elizabeth Soto, and Ines Soto of multiple federal offenses.

Supporters and legal advocates are deeply concerned about what Friday’s verdict represents for the future of protest movements in the U.S.

“This is a tragedy,” one member of the Dallas-Fort Worth Support Committee – a group of friends, loved ones and advocates who have been organizing support for the defendants – told Unicorn Riot. “This is an injustice, and we should all be very very worried about what comes next.”

Batten, Evetts, Hill, Morris, Rueda, Song, Soto and Soto were each found guilty of riot, providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to use and carry an explosive, and using and carrying an explosive.

Evetts and Song were additionally found guilty of three counts discharging a firearm during a violent crime. Song was also convicted on one count of attempted murder of an officer.

Rolando Sanchez-Estrada and Rueda were found guilty of conspiracy to conceal documents. Rolando Sanchez-Estrada was also found guilty of corruptly concealing a document.

Hill, Evetts, Morris and Rueda were found not guilty of discharging a firearm and attempted murder of an officer, and Song was found not guilty on two of the three counts of attempted murder of an officer.

Defendants and their charges:

Savanna Batten – Riot, providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to use and carry an explosive, and using and carrying an explosive
Zachary Evetts – Riot, providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to use and carry an explosive, and using and carrying an explosive, three counts discharging a firearm during a violent crime
Autumn Hill – Riot, providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to use and carry an explosive, and using and carrying an explosive
Meagan Morris — Riot, providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to use and carry an explosive, and using and carrying an explosive
Maricela Rueda — Riot, providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to use and carry an explosive, and using and carrying an explosive, and conspiracy to conceal documents
Benjamin Song — Riot, providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to use and carry an explosive, and using and carrying an explosive, attempted murder of an officer, three counts discharging a firearm during a violent crime
Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada –Corruptly concealing a document, conspiracy to conceal document [Like how the Trump adminstration conspires to conceal the Epstein Files??? – CA]
Elizabeth Soto — Riot, providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to use and carry an explosive, and using and carrying an explosive
Ines Soto — Riot, providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to use and carry an explosive, and using and carrying an explosive

Under federal statutes, riot convictions carry a maximum sentence of five years. Providing material support to terrorists carries a maximum sentence of 15 years. Conspiracy to use, and using, an explosive each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years. Each count of attempted murder of an officer carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. Discharging a firearm carries a minimum sentence of 10 years. Concealing a document and conspiring to conceal a document each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years. Sentencing is set for June

Don’t stop talking about the Epstein Files

Related: Immigration Protester Faces Terrorism Charges, Deportation as Trial Approaches

As the administration works to implement Trump’s broad and far-reaching NSPM-7 and other executive orders, defendants and supporters worry that Friday’s results could set a significant precedent for trying similar cases moving forward.

Xavier T. de Janon, a defense attorney who has worked alongside the Prairieland defendants and represents Elizabeth Soto, is concerned about the precedent the conviction sets.

“The federal government has signaled, successfully, that very regular protest activities could get you federally charged and federally convicted, at least in north Texas,” de Janon told Unicorn Riot.

De Janon sees the Prairieland case as representative of a new norm for federal prosecutions against protesters — one where numerous defendants are named and accused of severe charges.

He drew a comparison in the Minnesota church protest case which has seen dozens of people, including journalists covering the story, indicted after disrupting a service at a church where a pastor is also a high ranking ICE official.

“I think moving forward that is what the federal government will threaten, and I think will charge,” de Janon said.

The case hinged on portraying the defendants as a terrorist cell, describing those involved in last year’s protest as members of “Antifa,” a shorthand for anti-fascist. While “Antifa” has long been a target for right-wing politicians, Trump’s executive order from September of last year designated the movement as a homeland security threat and promised increased targeting of the “anarchist enterprise” that “Antifa” represents, despite the fact that no such group or organization exists.

Do not be distracted, do not stop talking about Epstein

Nonetheless, the prosecution described those who took part in last year’s protest as a radical domestic terror threat and used that characterization to charge defendants for organizing, printing and transporting literature, and participating in the demonstration.

Nine defendants, representing half of the 18 people arrested in relation to the 2025 noise demonstration outside the Prairieland ICE detention center in Alvarado, Texas, went on trial beginning on February 17

The first attempt at a trial was abruptly halted when U.S. District Court Judge Mark Pittman, a Trump appointee, abruptly declared a mistrial during jury selection after it became clear that the jury pool was not sympathetic to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Pittman also took issue with a defense attorney’s shirt which depicted civil rights leaders, apparently in homage to the recently deceased Jesse Jackson who had died that morning.

Related: Judge Declares Mistrial on First Day of Prairieland Trial

The following week, the trial resumed and continued for 13 days before the defense and prosecution rested their cases Thursday.

The trial itself was marked with irregularities. Following the declaration of a mistrial, Judge Pittman took control of the voir dire, or jury selection, process. Pittman ordered attorneys, who normally pose questions to potential jurors directly, to submit their questions to him for review. He asked questions at his discretion.

Public access to the courtroom was severely limited throughout the case, and media broadcasts from inside the courtroom were not allowed. Judge Pittman ordered an overflow seating area to be established, but it was set up in a separate courthouse in Dallas more than 30 miles away from where the trial was taking place.

A live stream of the courtroom in Fort Worth was set up to broadcast in the overflow room, but the feed regularly cut out, leaving observers and members of the press without information such as which jurors were retained during final jury selection.

De Janon saw the irregularities as a detriment to the defense’s case.

“All the odds were stacked against the defendants from the start,” he said. “The rulings of the judge, the way the courtroom was closed, the fact that the first jury was declared a mistrial, where this was happening, the very strict rules on who can even take these cases in north Texas, the sanctions that the judge imposed on defense attorneys for filing very normal motions – all of this piled up to end in this result.”

Outside the U.S. district court in Fort Worth, supporters gathered throughout the trial to show solidarity with the defendants and raise awareness about the case.

Community members and supporters from across the country gathered daily to rally and host events ranging from potlucks to educational sessions to rallies at a park near the courthouse. Supporters showed solidarity with the defendants, who many see as stand-ins for protesters moving forward under Trump.

“No fascist America” via https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/antifa-crackdown-refuse-fascism-1235504152/

A statement from the Dallas-Fort Worth Support Committee released shortly after the verdict was issued expressed dismay over the results, but affirmed the group’s commitment to continue supporting those convicted.

“What they wanted to do was to isolate the defendants, to control the public narrative. But people came together, spoke out, fought back, and set the tone for what’s to come,” the statement read. “We have a long journey ahead of us to continue fighting these charges along with the state level charges. What happens here sets the tone for what’s to come. We are here and we won’t give up.”