A former U.S. Marine reservist and seven others have been sentenced to decades in prison for a shooting that injured a police officer during a demonstration at an immigration detention center in Texas last year.
On Tuesday, Marine Corps reservist Benjamin Song was sentenced to the maximum penalty of 100 years in prison for firing a gun during a July 4 demonstration outside the Prairieland Detention Center near Dallas.
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The other seven defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 30 to 70 years.
Prosecutors called the crime an “act of terrorism” and said the eight were affiliated with the left-wing activist group Antifa, a loose anti-fascist movement that President Donald Trump has designated as a “domestic terrorist organization.”
Meanwhile, the defense denied any ties to antifa. Family members expressed shock and anger at the harsh sentence.
“I’m furious,” said Lydia Koza, whose wife, Autumn Hill, was sentenced to 50 years in prison. “The government is trying to take away her life because she took part in a protest. No one died.”
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, one of the two judges overseeing the case, said what happened was not a protest but an “attack on democracy.” All but one of the eight defendants sentenced Tuesday were convicted of terrorism charges.
“There is a strong need to stop this type of behavior,” O’Connor said.
The case drew attention beyond Texas, with critics warning that it could have far-reaching implications for protests and First Amendment free speech rights.
The Justice Department announced this was the first verdict against a “defendant associated with Antifa” after President Trump signed an executive order on Sept. 22 designating Antifa a “terrorist” organization.
Prosecutors link protesters to Antifa
President Trump issued this order even though there are no organizations in the country that are on the State Department’s list of “foreign terrorist organizations.”
Antifa is not a single organization, but a collective term for far-left activist groups that confront and resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.
“The sentences handed down today make it clear that Antifa terrorists who attack law enforcement and federal facilities will face swift and uncompromising justice,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.
Prosecutors told jurors during the trial that the group’s actions, including bringing firearms and first aid kits and wearing bulletproof vests, showed sinister intentions.
According to the Justice Department, Son yelled, “Get the rifle!” and opened fire, hitting a police officer who had just parked his car at the center.
Defense lawyers said there was no planned ambush and that the protesters who brought firearms did so only for their own protection.
They also claimed that the rally was planned as a late-night demonstration with fireworks to show support for immigrants that had been taking place in Prairieland before the gunfire.
Some defendants claim they were not involved in the scheme
Mr Song’s lawyer, Philip Hayes, rejected the characterization of the protesters as “extremists” and said his client would appeal the 100-year sentence.
“This is a group of kids and young people who really have big hearts and really want their voices to be heard,” Hayes said. “It was never intended for anyone to be injured. It was never intended for any shots to be fired.”
Prosecutor Frank Gatto asked the judge to impose harsher penalties.
“People with such extremist views need more time in prison,” Gatto said. “They believe that violence is justified.”
The defendant and his family asked for lenient punishment.
Autumn Hill said the rally “felt more like a party to me than anything else,” and that she and others who attended “never expected or wanted any violence or property destruction to occur.”
Hill’s attorney, Cody Cofer, told the judge there was no evidence Hill owned a gun and that he believed violence was necessary to bring about change. After the fireworks went off, they were very sincere, making sure to pick up the trash left behind and take it home.
Savannah Batten’s attorney, Chris Tolbert, said her client did not bring firearms, spray paint or fireworks to the center and did not participate in planning the demonstration.
Hill and Batten both received 50-year sentences.
Another protester, Daniel Sanchez Estrada, was not at Prairieland the night of the shooting and was not involved in the planning, said his attorney, Christopher Weinbell.
Sanchez Estrada, who is married to another defendant, was found guilty only of concealing documents.
Weinbell said that after the shooting, his client simply moved a box containing his belongings, which included artwork, poetry, a diary and a zine. Weinbell said there was nothing illegal in the box.
Sanchez Estrada was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Other defendants previously pleaded guilty to providing material support to “terrorists” without going to trial.
Federal prosecutors last week charged 15 people with obstructing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota.
They claimed the protesters were members of Antifa and had conspired against the federal government to try to prevent their arrests and deportations, including by locking down areas around government buildings and throwing blocks of ice at federal vehicles.
