A federal judge in Fort Worth declared a mistrial in the case of nine Prairieland ICE detention center shooting defendants Tuesday in response to an attorney's shirt emblazoned with a "politically charged message."
The shirt 鈥� worn by Maricela Rueda's defense attorney MarQuetta Clayton 鈥� bore black and white images of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Shirley Chisholm and other people and scenes from the civil rights movement.
She appeared to wear it in honor of Jesse Jackson. The civil rights icon at the age of 84.
Judge Mark Pittman halted jury selection after getting frustrated with Clayton鈥檚 questioning, then noticing her shirt.
"I don't know why in the world you would think that's appropriate," Pittman told Clayton.
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.
The decision is not likely to bring an end to the case, in which the nine defendants are accused of being part of a "North Texas antifa cell." All are accused of being involved in the non-fatal shooting of a police officer outside the Prairieland Detention Center after what defendants say was a July 4 noise demonstration outside the building.
The political overtones of the case came to a head with the mistrial Tuesday. The trial is gearing up to be the first federal prosecution of 鈥渁ntifa鈥� as a domestic terrorist group and the first major test of Trump鈥檚 desire to go after alleged left-wing extremists.
Jury selection will start again with a new jury pool on Monday. Clayton, who was seen leaving the courthouse with her shirt turned inside out, declined to comment. Pittman said Clayton would have to return for a hearing at some point to determine whether she鈥檇 be sanctioned for her shirt.
Clayton was the first defense attorney to begin questioning jurors. She began by noting the constitutional right to protest and mentioned Jackson鈥檚 death.
Then Clayton asked jurors whether they knew the difference between a noise demonstration, a protest and a riot. Her co-counsel Lesa Pamplin brought a poster board that seemed to juxtapose images of seemingly peaceful protests with a fiery riot.
Pittman admonished Clayton for bringing the board without telling the court or prosecutors and ordered Clayton not to use it.
Clayton then asked potential jurors whether they believed a peaceful protest could cross the line into becoming a riot. She asked the pool to say on a scale of 1 to 5 鈥� 1 being agreeing, 5 being disagreeing 鈥� whether they believed guns should be brought to a protest.
After a few answers, Pittman told Clayton to stop with her questioning and scolded her for not making good use of her time. Pittman gave the defense 10 minutes per defendant to question the jury 鈥� Clayton鈥檚 questioning had taken 22 minutes, he said.
Pittman asked the jury to leave the room for a five-minute break then said he intended to call for a mistrial, something he said he鈥檚 never done before. He expressed concerns over the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals 鈥� the federal appeals court for Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi 鈥� overturning the verdict in the case if he didn鈥檛 declare a mistrial.
鈥淚t鈥檚 what (the shirt is) suggesting that鈥檚 improper,鈥� he told attorneys.
Smith didn鈥檛 express whether he supported a mistrial, but all the defense attorneys opposed the move, with some saying they hadn鈥檛 noticed the shirt.
While Pittman said he admired King and Chisholm, he likened Clayton鈥檚 shirt to a prosecutor wearing an Immigration and Customs Enforcement pin, or 鈥渁 shirt with Donald Trump riding an eagle鈥� with an ICE flag.
鈥淧olitics 鈥� as prevalent as they are, as divided as they are 鈥� don鈥檛 have any business here,鈥� he said.
Nearly seven hours after jury selection began, Pittman dismissed the jury pool. He was 鈥渁bsolutely disgusted鈥� with the state of the country, he said, and he encouraged jurors to pray that they could love their neighbor despite not agreeing with all their views.
In an interview with 四虎影院 outside the courthouse, defendant Savanna Batten鈥檚 sister Amber Lowrey called the mistrial frustrating.
鈥淲e've got everybody's clothes ready,鈥� Lowrey said of the defendants. 鈥淲e've got our support people over here. Everybody's worked really hard to make this happen. So, it is disappointing in that regard to just have him say, 鈥業 don't like your shirt.鈥欌��
Pittman, a Trump appointee, has drawn scrutiny from attorneys and supporters of the Prairieland defendants throughout the course of the case. The judge sanctioned defendant Zachary Evetts鈥� attorneys last month for what he called 鈥渇rivolous鈥� motions seeking more evidence from the government.
Two years ago, the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Pittman abused his discretion by fining two lawyers for submitting declarations instead of notarized affidavits.
鈥淚鈥檓 extremely disappointed that an action was taken that was merited neither by the facts nor the law, that none of the parties moved for,鈥� Patrick McLain, Evetts鈥� lead attorney, said Tuesday. 鈥淏ut we鈥檙e prepared to go to trial Monday to seek acquittal of our client.鈥�
Additional reporting by Penelope Rivera.
Toluwani Osibamowo is 四虎影院鈥檚 law and justice reporter. Got a tip? Email Toluwani at tosibamowo@kera.org.
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