Two people arrested in connection to a shooting outside an ICE detention in Alvarado last July had their bonds reduced Thursday.
Lucy Fowlkes was arrested in January, accused of being involved in group chats with other defendants who arrested the night of the July 4 Prairieland shooting and in the following weeks through encrypted messaging app Signal. She's also accused of helping delete messages from those group chats.
She pleaded not guilty to hindering prosecution of terrorism and tampering with evidence with intent to impair during a court hearing Thursday. Her bond was reduced from $5 million to $150,000 while she's in custody at Johnson County Jail.
Johnson County District Judge William Bosworth also heard arguments from the state and from attorneys of another co-defendant, Janette Goering.
Goering was arrested last October and charged with aiding in the commission of terrorism. Her bond was set at $5 million, but Bosworth lowered it to $275,000. Her attorneys requested it be decreased to $75,000.
Goering is accused of participating in group chat exchanges with other defendants through Signal both before and after the shooting.
Goering also allegedly gave the lone shooter, Benjamin Song, a Faraday bag he used at the Prairieland Detention Center, according to a criminal complaint. Faraday bags are used to block devices like phones from giving or receiving electromagnetic signals, preventing them from being tracked.
Frank Sellers, Goering's attorney, argued during Thursday's hearing Goering should have her bond reduced after an appellate court on June 4 reversed a trial court's previous decision denying her previous request to have her bond reduced.
Sellers claimed the text messages used as evidence against Goering don't mention her and prove she wasn’t present at the July 4 shooting.
"It's clear she was not there," Sellers told Bosworth.
Sellers also said while she may have been present with a group of other codefendants that helped Song evade arrest, it doesn't prove her intentions were to help him escape.
And, he pointed to other codefendants having their bonds reduced.
Matthew Staton, an assistant district attorney for Johnson County, said each defendant involved has a "unique" case, and using that as a reason to have her bond reduced "takes away" from the uniqueness of each person's case.
"She did, in some way, help Song evade," Staton said.
Twenty-two people have been arrested in connection with the shooting and were hit with a mix of state and federal charges.
A Fort Worth federal jury convicted Song in March of attempted murder for shooting an Alvarado officer.
Song and eight others were also convicted of lesser charges, including rioting, using explosives and providing material support to terrorism.
Seven others pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorism.
The defendants were accused of being part of “antifa,” which is not an organization but a decentralized ideology that President Donald Trump has designated a domestic terrorist organization. Some defendants, attorneys and supporters maintain that no one intended violence during the protest in support of immigrants detained at Prairieland.
Additional reporting from Toluwani Osibamowo.
Penelope Rivera is KERA's Tarrant County Accountability Reporter. Got a tip? Email Penelope Rivera at privera@kera.org.
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