Texas Court of Appeals Reverses Lower Court’s Denial of Bond Reduction for Prairieland Defendant, Orders Court to Set “Reasonable Bail”
CLEBURNE, TX — The last Prairieland defendant to be arraigned, Lucy Fowlkes, has a hearing on Thursday, June 11, in order to enter a plea and move to reduce her $10 million bond. The State of Texas is using exorbitant bonds of up to $15 million to keep Fowlkes and almost all of her 21 co-defendants imprisoned, most of whom have been in custody for nearly a year since their arrests, as they await State trials, none of which have been scheduled yet.
Fowlkes, who was arrested on January 5, 2026, and charged with hindering the prosecution of terrorism and tampering with physical evidence, is expected to plead not guilty and to argue that her bond amount is a violation of her constitutional rights. Supporters have argued from the outset that the accusations against Fowlkes—explaining to others how to delete their messages from a commonly used group text app—do not amount to criminal conduct.
What: Arraignment for Lucy Fowlkes; Bond hearings for Fowlkes and Janette Goering
When: Thursday, June 11, 2026 at 1:30pm
Where: Guinn Justice Center, Room 207, 204 S. Buffalo Ave, Cleburne, Texas
Fowlkes’s bond reduction hearing comes just a week after the Texas Court of Appeals reversed a Johnson County District Court decision to deny lowering the $5 million bond for Fowlkes’s co-defendant, Janette Goering. Goering was arrested on October 21, 2025, and charged with hindering the prosecution of terrorism. A bond reduction hearing for Goering has been set for June 11, the same day as Fowlkes’s hearing. Neither Fowlkes nor Goering were present at the July 4, 2025 noise demonstration at the Prairieland ICE Detention Center, and both were arrested months later.
“The Tenth Court of Appeals delivered a decisive victory for Janette Goering and for our Constitutional rights,” said Dustin Hoffman, one of Goering’s lawyers. “The previous $5 million bail was not bail at all—it was a pretrial prison sentence for a person who is presumed innocent,” continued Hoffman. “The Court of Appeals unanimously found it offensive to our Constitutional guarantee of reasonable bail. We will continue to fight for Janette at every turn, including this week for a bail she can afford.”
“Prairieland defendants like Lucy and Janette are being locked up in advance of trial as a form of punishment and to deprive them of a fair trial,” said Amber Lowrey, a member of the DFW Support Committee and the sister of Prairieland defendant Savanna Batten, who has been held for almost a year on a $10 million bond. “In no way do these defendants represent a flight risk or a danger to their community,” continued Lowrey. “The Texas Court of Appeals said what should have been evident to the trial court all along, that imprisoning activists on multi-million dollar bonds is unreasonable.”
Fowlkes’s hearing also comes a week after District Court Judge William Bosworth took the trial of Prairieland defendant Dario Sanchez off calendar and ordered Sanchez “discharged from any bond conditions put in place by this Court,” including removal of his ankle monitor, no-contact orders with other co-defendants, restrictions on music and other media he was allowed to view, as well as a nightly curfew. Unlike many of his co-defendants, Sanchez has been released for months on a bond of $150,000.
However, the trial against Sanchez, previously scheduled for June 22, has been postponed three times, despite Sanchez repeatedly demanding a speedy trial. Judge Bosworth is also currently considering a pending motion to quash two counts in Sanchez’s indictment. Goering’s trial and related hearings were also abruptly cancelled in March without explanation. No date is currently set for Goering’s trial, despite a motion asserting her right to a speedy trial filed in November 2025.
Notably, Judge Bosworth is the same judge overseeing the case against Goering, and whose $5 million bond order was just reversed by the Texas Court of Appeals for being unreasonable. Judge Bosworth is also overseeing the cases against three “new” Prairieland defendants who were arrested in March and arraigned last month, without fanfare and unbeknownst to the DFW Support Committee. Despite the similar charges of hindering the prosecution of terrorism faced by the three defendants, they are all currently released on bonds of $250,000 and $500,000.
The Prairieland cases, involving both state and federal charges, stem from a noise demonstration in solidarity with detainees at the Prairieland ICE Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, on July 4, 2025. Toward the end of the demonstration, an officer with the Alvarado Police Department became involved in an exchange of gunfire soon after his arrival on the scene. The officer allegedly sustained minor injuries, although his medical records have successfully been withheld by the prosecution.