Both sides rested their cases Tuesday in the Prairieland ICE detention center shooting trial after prosecutors put forward their final witnesses and evidence — and the defendants put forward none.
The government’s seeking to prove the nine people on trial share an anti-fascist, anti-ICE and anti-government ideology that motivated them to play a role in the nonfatal shooting of a police officer outside an ICE detention facility in Alvarado July 4. The defendants allege the event was meant to be a noise demonstration with fireworks in support of those inside Prairieland, and violence was never the intention.
A Fort Worth federal jury heard from the government’s controversial expert on antifa and saw additional text messages that prosecutors allege prove the defendants’ intent for violence.
U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman expects the Fort Worth federal jury to begin deliberating later this week after it hears closing arguments and the jury charge Wednesday.
This story is developing and will be updated.
