Support the Prairieland Defendants

After a day and a half of deliberation, the jury returns with a decision. Pre-Sentencing Report (PSR) will be April 30 followed by sentencing on June 18, 2026 at 9:00 am.

After nearly three weeks of trial, both sides delivered closing arguments to the jury in the Prairieland case. The prosecution urged the jury to find all eight defendants charged with conspiracy guilty under a conspiracy and Pinkerton liability theory. Meanwhile nine defense attorneys argued that the government presented evidence, but not proof, that the defendants…

Both sides rested and closed their cases after a day dominated by the prosecution’s effort to connect the defendants to Antifa ideology through social media, phone extractions, and chat messages. Judge Pittman questioned the relevance of the Antifa evidence.

Six witnesses testified: cooperating witness Nathan Baumann (cross-examination on plea deal circumstances); forensic witnesses on firearms, fingerprints, and DNA; ATF explosives specialist Steven Brenneman (consumer fireworks as explosives under 18 U.S.C. 844); and David Kyle Shideler, the prosecution’s designated Antifa expert (history of Antifa, symbology, zines, affinity groups, black bloc). Brenneman and Shideler faced extended…

The prosecution’s second cooperating witness, Susan Kent, broke down on the stand under defense cross-examination that exposed coercive plea conditions and the government’s role in labeling defendants as an “Antifa cell” — a term Kent did not use on her own and struggled to define. Cooperating witness John Thomas similarly could not recall who he…

Lynette Sharp’s cross-examination became the strongest moment yet for the defense, as she testified the defendants are a group of LGBTQ friends bound by shared identity rather than an “Antifa organization,” that no one intended to harm police, and that her plea was coerced under horrible jail conditions — prompting Judge Pittman to intervene and…

The prosecution’s physical evidence case continued to crumble as a 57-minute SWAT search of Savanna Batten’s apartment yielded nothing but a map, a fireworks cooler was left unsecured at the crime scene for 12 hours, and an FBI counterterrorism agent of 22 years admitted he had to Google what an “antifa flag” looks like. Texas…

Day 6 featured damaging cross-examination of the prosecution’s case, including testimony about procedural failures in evidence handling, a key witness acknowledging it would be reasonable to shoot back if pointed at with a gun, and exposure of the FBI translator’s selective translation of jail calls omitting context and emotional nuance.