Support the Prairieland Defendants

Cooperating defendant Susan Kent was sentenced to 72 months in federal prison, to run concurrently with a related Johnson County state case, after the court granted a downward-variance motion and found her less culpable than several co-defendants. The court recommended placement at a Bureau of Prisons medical facility and directed attention to her need for…

Seven more Prairieland co-defendants were sentenced on July 1, receiving terms from 22 months (Nathan Bauman) to 50 years (Ines Soto), with both judges granting downward variances for the defendants who pleaded guilty and cooperated while continuing to frame the July 4, 2025 events as conduct that “could have been an absolute slaughter.” Judge Pittman…

Section 1. Summary Date of proceedings: June 23, 2026 (Tuesday), beginning ~8:11–8:25 a.m.Court: U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas — Fort Worth DivisionCase: United States v. Hill et al. (caption to confirm; case/docket numbers not reliably captured)Judges: Sentencing ran simultaneously in two courtrooms — Excerpt All eight Prairieland co-defendants sentenced on June 23 received…

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…