Prairieland defendants sentenced today to prison terms ranging from 30-100 years

https://prairielanddefendants.com/press-release/eight-federal-prairieland-defendants-sentenced-today-to-prison-terms-ranging-from-30-100-years-for-common-protest-activity/

by panic • 29 days ago

88 29 29 days ago

prairielanddefendants.com

NDlurker2• 29 days ago

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

queenkjuul3• 29 days ago

Moved a box of zines to their car

tbrownaw3• 29 days 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• 29 days ago

Surely not 30 years bad.

Exoristos2• 29 days 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?

NDlurker2• 29 days 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.

Exoristos2• 29 days 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

queenkjuul3• 29 days ago

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

fuckinpuppers• 28 days ago

And yet the guy concealing documents, moving them so the fbi couldn’t find them, storing them insecurely - nothing

pm90• 29 days ago

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

happa• 29 days 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.

jmye• 29 days 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.

DivingForGold• 29 days 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 ?

SauciestGNU• 28 days ago

He wanted to claim an affirmative defense that he shot in order to defend others, since the cop who was shot had drawn and was aiming a firearm. The judge prohibited the defendant from bringing that defense claim (not that it likely would have worked).

Frankly I don't see how a cop presenting unwarranted deadly force is different from a random person doing the same. Especially now that we've had a decade of body worn camera footage to prove just how lawless American police are.

tbrownaw3• 29 days ago

Headline: "for Common Protest Activity"

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

Um?

Brian_K_White2• 29 days 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.

MisterMower4• 29 days ago

The activity in the body does not align with the title. Even putting aside whether such activities are justified in this case or acceptable in general, people do not commonly attempt murder or posses explosives at protests.

queenkjuul3• 29 days ago

Did you read what they actually did or did you just read the charges?

dbingham• 29 days 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/

burnt-resistor• 28 days ago

Order, now my court is in session, will you please stand? First, allow me to introduce myself, my name is Judge Hundred Years. Some people call me Judge Dread.

LocalH• 27 days ago

ACAB

APAB

Prairieland defendants sentenced today to prison terms ranging from 30-100 years

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