I haven’t seen any discussion for this yet, so I thought I would start one.
Last year on July 4, a bunch of people organized a protest outside of an ICE detention center in Texas, with the intent of making enough noise that those held inside could hear them and know they weren’t forgotten. There was gunfire, and a police officer was wounded.
The defendants have been convicted on terrorism charges and sentenced to between 30-100 years. Many of the sentencees say they weren’t part of the protest planning, or any violence – they just showed up to a protest and did the usual thing.
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems pretty underreported, I only heard about the case because of the sentencing. The sentencing seems problematic and extreme, as is the charges of ‘terrorism’. The absurdly long sentences seem to be the result of the sentences being consecutive rather than concurrent, as would be the norm.
I’m still finding out more about this case, but apart from the extremity of the 100-year sentence, I lost all sympathy for Benjamin Song upon finding out that he shot a police officer with an AR-15.
Guardian article:
After a three-week jury trial, the nine activists were all found guilty of a slew of criminal charges in March, stemming from a Fourth of July protest at an immigrant detention facility in Alvarado, Texas, south of Fort Worth. The demonstrators arrived late at night with a plan to set off fireworks as part of a noise demonstration to show solidarity with those detained inside. A few of the protesters spontaneously broke off from the main group and vandalized cars in the parking lot, a guard shack, slashed the tires on a government van and broke a security camera. When a police officer arrived on the scene and drew his weapon, one of the activists fired an AR-15 from the woods, hitting the officer in the shoulder. The officer survived.
Benjamin Song, who fired the gun at the police officer, was sentenced to 100 years in prison. Song was convicted of attempted murder of an officer of the United States, as well as firearm and explosives charges. He was also convicted of riot, providing material support to terrorists. He faced anywhere from 20 years to life in prison.
Sorry, bringing your AR-15 to a protest where you’re planning on setting off fireworks is at the least the recipe for a disaster. Like I said, I’m still finding out more about it, but my initial reaction to his defense that he shot the cop because the cop drew his weapon would be an almost complete lack of sympathy under the best of circumstances. When fireworks are being set off, I’m even more skeptical.
I agree that this seems unwise. It’s not something I would advocate anyone doing. However, I suspect that no one in Texas would be bothered by that if it weren’t seen as a left-wing action instead of a right-wing one.
All six were convicted of riot, providing material support to terrorist, and explosive charges. Rueda was also convicted of corruptly concealing a document or record.
There is no “terrorism” here, and “Antifa” is doubtful.
and here-
The punishment for the protesters exceeds the lengthiest prison sentences given out for the attack on the Capitol on January 6. Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys who was convicted of seditious conspiracy, was sentenced to 22 years in prison. Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the far-right group the Oath Keepers, was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
The sentences are bogus, except fot Song, who did shoot a police office.
Attempted Murder of a Police officer can carry a Life sentence. I cant argue that one- maybe a bit severe, but not out of line.
But the others? Disorderly conduct, maybe some fireworks misdemeanors, , etc. For first tine offenders, no jail time, a fine and 100 hours of service. I dunno if any had priors. The Terrorism is bullshit.
The sentencing that really strikes me as …well, I can’t find the adjective for it, is the 30-year prison sentence handed down to one of the Prairieland defendants for the crime of…moving a box of magazines and documents. Technically obstruction of justice, but 30 years?
Again, this appears to be because the sentences are to be served consecutively, not concurrently as is the norm; i.e. he has to serve the sentence for attempted murder of a police officer and then the sentence for rioting and then the sentence for providing material support to terrorists rather than all of them running concurrently and only the longest single sentence, that of attempted murder being the de facto sentence length.
I can’t find where I read it or saw it, but someone did a comparison of the total sentence length of these 9 compared to the total sentences of all of the 1,500 convicted Jan 6th defendants that TFG pardoned en masse, and the 9 of them have something like 1/3 or 1/5 of the total prison time as that handed down to the 1,500 that stormed the Capitol.
It does scare me a bit. I’m a zine gal, and it’s both flattering and scary that making and distributing zines is now going to be seen as a potential terrorist activity.
But I guess I will print out some more zines and drop them off at the local bookstore. Maybe I will write a letter to some of the folks who got sentenced, too.
I would expect the next President to pardon all of them, except possibly the actual shooter, if they can’t get any judicial relief from those convictions and sentences. We should not be terrified of the blowback from such a move, it will not change the dividing line between terrified/angry MAGAs and rational people one iota.