A Johnson County judge on Monday rescheduled the trial of a defendant tied to last year's Prairieland ICE detention center shooting from next week to June 22.
Judge William Bosworth delayed the trial for Dallas teacher Dario Sanchez after a hearing in the Johnson County courthouse in Cleburne Monday afternoon. Assistant district attorneys said they need more time to respond to a brief by defense attorneys seeking to throw out Sanchez’s indictment and go through evidence.
“At the end of the day, the facts in my case remain that I did not commit these crimes that I'm alleged to have committed,” Sanchez told KERA News after the hearing.
Sanchez additionally rejected an offer from the state to testify against fellow defendant Janette Goering in exchange for immunity.
Both Goering and Sanchez are represented by attorneys Frank Sellers and Dustin Hoffman. State prosecutors alleged it’s a conflict of interest for the attorneys to represent both defendants at the same time.
“I believe that we're righteously representing both of these individuals and that the prosecutor's attempts to get us away from one of these cases is going to fail,” Hoffman said.
Bosworth will rule on the issue after briefings from both parties. The Johnson County District Attorney's Office declined to comment.
Sanchez, 33, is accused of removing Benjamin Song and John Thomas from group chats in the encrypted messaging apps Signal and Discord related to the nonfatal shooting of an Alvarado police officer outside the Prairieland Detention Center July 4. Song was the shooter, and Thomas pleaded guilty in November to one charge for helping Song escape from the ICE facility the day after the shooting.
Sanchez previously told KERA he removed Thomas from a group chat used by statewide chapters of the Socialist Rifle Association — a leftist gun club — after Thomas told Sanchez he was being raided by the FBI. For that, Sanchez faces state charges of hindering the prosecution of terrorism and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.
A federal jury in Fort Worth convicted Song and eight others last month on charges connected to the shooting, including rioting, providing material support to terrorists and using explosives — in this case, fireworks. Federal officials said the convictions were evidence that the defendants were members of “antifa,” which President Donald Trump deemed a domestic terrorist organization in September.
Antifa, short for anti-fascist, is not an organization but a decentralized movement. Legal and terrorism experts have questioned the validity of Trump’s designation and the characterization of the federal trial as a victory against antifa members.
Sanchez’s case appears to be the first that will be tried under Texas’ terrorism criminal statute, passed in 2023. Terrorism under Texas law is defined as certain crimes committed with the intent to intimidate or coerce the public or influence, by intimidation or coercion, government policy.
Toluwani Osibamowo is KERA’s law and justice reporter. Got a tip? Email Toluwani at tosibamowo@kera.org.
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