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Esteban Soto, the son of Ines and Liz Soto, reads statements from his parents outside of the Eldon B. Mahon U.S. Courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. Two judges sentenced seven defendants in the Prairieland Detention Center attack in the federal court Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Ben Florey, an attorney for defendant Nathan Baumann, speaks to reporters after Judge Mark Pittman gave his client a 22-month sentence outside of the Eldon B. Mahon U.S. Courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. Two judges sentenced seven defendants in the Prairieland Detention Center attack in the federal court Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
(From left) Ben Florey and Robert Leahey, attorneys for defendant Nathan Baumann, speak to reporters after Judge Mark Pittman gave their client a 22-month sentence outside of the Eldon B. Mahon U.S. Courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. Two judges sentenced seven defendants in the Prairieland Detention Center attack in the federal court Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Protestors hold up signs with faces of the Prairieland defendants outside of the Eldon B. Mahon U.S. Courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. Two judges sentenced seven defendants in the Prairieland Detention Center attack in the federal court Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
FORT WORTH<\/a> \u2014 The defendants have described the case as a peaceful immigration<\/a> protest that spiraled out of control. Federal prosecutors called it an antifa-inspired terrorist attack<\/a> that ended with an Alvarado police officer shot.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, seven of the more than a dozen defendants in the federal terrorism case learned their punishment: <\/a>As much as 50 years for the man who went to trial, and as little as a year and 10 months for one who pleaded guilty and cooperated. Last week, Benjamin Song, who opened fire on an Alvarado police officer and was described as the group\u2019s leader, was sentenced to a century in federal prison.<\/a><\/p>\n The case has become an early test of the Trump administration\u2019s effort to use terrorism laws against far-left activists. Prosecutors say the defendants were part of a coordinated \u201cantifa cell,\u201d while defense attorneys and supporters say the government is stretching the law to recast political protest as domestic terrorism.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Related: Judges hand down lengthy sentences to ‘antifa cell’ members in Alvarado ICE attack<\/a><\/p>\n The sentences are the latest in a closely watched prosecution stemming from the July 4, 2025 demonstration outside the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, where prosecutors said the group \u2014 dressed in black, with some carrying firearms \u2014 used fireworks and vandalism to draw officers out before Song shot at police.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump designated antifa a domestic terrorist organization last year. The case against the Alvarado defendants may be the first of cases to come: Last month, federal prosecutors charged 15 people in Minnesota with trying to obstruct the administration\u2019s immigration crackdown there, alleging they were antifa members who conspired to block federal arrests and deportations.<\/p>\n Defense attorneys and supporters have condemned the Alvarado case as politically driven overreach and an effort to equate left-leaning protest activity with terrorism. Some defendants who pleaded guilty before the trial acknowledged their roles, expressed remorse and said they regretted how the demonstration devolved into violence.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Two sentencing hearings were held simultaneously Wednesday on different floors of the Eldon B. Mahon U.S. Courthouse, with U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, a President Donald Trump appointee who presided over the trial, and Chief U.S. District Judge Reed O\u2019Connor overseeing the proceedings.<\/p>\n After sentencing Ines Soto to 50 years in federal prison, O\u2019Connor, a \u200b\u200bPresident George W. Bush appointee, sentenced Joy Gibson and Rebecca Morgan to the maximum 15 years. Both pleaded guilty to one count of providing material support to terrorists.<\/p>\n At Soto\u2019s sentencing, O\u2019Connor said political disputes cannot be allowed to turn violent.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an assault on the democratic process,\u201d the judge said from the bench after handing down the punishment.<\/p>\n The defendants, dressed in orange-and-white striped jumpsuits and handcuffs, showed no emotion as O\u2019Connor read their sentences.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n As a U.S. marshal escorted Gibson from the courtroom, she turned toward her family.<\/p>\n \u201cI love you,\u201d she mouthed. \u201cI love you.\u201d<\/p>\n Phillip Linder, attorney for defendant Seth Sikes, speaks to Sikes\u2019 parents after Judge Mark Pittman gave his client a 72-month sentence outside of the Eldon B. Mahon U.S. Courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. Two judges sentenced seven defendants in the Prairieland Detention Center attack in the federal court Wednesday.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Cooperating defendants received lower sentences<\/p>\n Pittman sentenced Lynette Sharp and John Thomas to more than nine years each, Seth Sikes to six years and Nathan Baumann to just under two. All four terms were years below what federal sentencing guidelines recommended, including one that fell sharply below the suggested range.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Pittman said he believed all four defendants deserved credit for their cooperation with investigators, their testimony at their co-defendant\u2019s trials and expressions of remorse. But the judge said the serious nature of their crimes also weighed heavily in his decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cThis could have been an absolute slaughter,\u201d Pittman said, describing a shot fired that night by Alvarado police Lt. Thomas Gross as a \u201cmagic bullet\u201d that struck Song\u2019s assault rifle, caused the weapon to jam and likely saved lives. Song received the longest sentence of the group last week: 100 years in federal prison, with no eligibility for parole under the modern federal system.<\/p>\n Among those sentenced Wednesday by Pittman was Nathan Baumann, who was the youngest of the defendants. The College Station resident had just turned 20 a few days before the July 4 incident, according to his attorney, Ben Florey.<\/p>\n Baumann was homeschooled and sheltered most of his life, Florey said. He was sympathetic to the immigrant community and was looking for a way to get involved when he met a woman at a “No Kings Rally” last year who told him about her group.<\/p>\n “He just was looking for associates and friends,” Florey said. “He was looking for acceptance.”<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Florey said Baumann offered some of the most detailed testimony at the March trial for his co-defendants. Pittman agreed, and gave him the shortest sentence that any of the defendants received \u2014 22 months. Baumann leaned forward in his seat and sobbed when he heard the lighter-than-expected prison term.<\/p>\n “He was elated,” said Robert Leahey, another of Baumann’s attorneys.<\/p>\n Pittman gave defendants Lynette Sharp and John Thomas the same prison terms: 9 years and two months. Neither was at the facility at the time of the incident, but helped Song evade capture afterward.<\/p>\n Sharp and Thomas expressed remorse in their remarks to the judge before their sentencing.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be human is to make mistakes, sometimes terrible mistakes,\u201d Sharp said. When that happens \u201cthe right thing to do is to own up to it\u201d and accept responsibility, she said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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