The federal judge presiding over the trial of nine defendants in the Prairieland ICE detention center shooting will now singlehandedly conduct the second round of jury selection after he declared a mistrial in the case Tuesday.
In an order Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman instructed attorneys in the case to file a list of questions under seal before Friday at noon that he will consider asking the 130-person jury pool on Monday.
That’s allowed under the law, but could change the answers given by the prospective jurors, said George Lobb, defendant Maricela Rueda’s attorney in state court.
“The key difference here with the judge asking the questions is the jurors are going to be more deferential and more likely to give answers to please the judge versus the answers they would give to an attorney,” Lobb said. “The attorney is closer in range to being equals to the jurors.”
Pittman cut the parties' time for opening arguments down from 40 minutes to 30 minutes for the prosecution and from 10 minutes to eight minutes for each defendant, according to the order.
The judge also gave the prosecution more peremptory challenges, or objections an attorney can make against putting someone on the jury without a reason. Prosecutors have nine challenges instead of six, while each defense attorney has two.
All defendants are accused of playing a role in the non-fatal shooting of a police officer at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado after what they say was a July 4 noise demonstration outside the building. Jury selection began Tuesday, but Pittman declared a mistrial in response to an attorney's shirt that he said sent a "politically charged message."
The trial will now be held in Pittman's usual courtroom, smaller than the one used for jury selection. Pittman emphasized in another order Thursday that all people in the courtroom would be prohibited from wearing graphic T-shirts and lapel pins.
During the first round of jury selection, Pittman said he had been told one of the defense attorneys was wearing an anti-ICE pin. No attorneys admitted to wearing one.
The shirt in question — worn by Maricela Rueda's defense attorney MarQuetta “MarQ” Clayton under her blazer — bore black and white images of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Shirley Chisholm and scenes from civil rights protests.
Clayton was the first defense attorney to begin questioning jurors. She began by noting the constitutional right to protest and mentioned the death of civil rights icon Jesse Jackson. Pittman halted jury selection amid frustration with Clayton’s questioning, then noticed her shirt.
He said the shirt could be seen as an attempt to influence the jury, especially as the case and Clayton’s questions dealt with protests.
"I don't know why in the world you would think that's appropriate," he told her.
The mistrial came after a vocal portion of the pool of 75 prospective jurors expressed anti-ICE and anti-President Trump sentiments when questioned by the judge and Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Smith. Pittman had already admonished Clayton for bringing a poster board to show the jury without telling the court or prosecutors.
Lobb, other defense attorneys and friends and family of the defendants have questioned whether the mistrial was really motivated by Clayton’s shirt — or the answers from jurors.
“The shirt didn't become a problem until the jurors started talking about their bias and prejudices against and for ICE and against and for guns,” Lobb said. “Shirt didn't change.”
The trial is gearing up to be the first federal prosecution of “antifa” as a domestic terrorist group and the first major test of Trump’s desire to go after alleged left-wing extremists.
Toluwani Osibamowo is KERA’s law and justice reporter. Got a tip? Email Toluwani at tosibamowo@kera.org.
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