Judge declares mistrial in Texas ‘antifa’ protest case over attorney’s T-shirt

A federal judge in Texas declared a mistrial on Tuesday after a defense lawyer wore a shirt in court with images from the civil rights movement, delaying a closely watched case in which the Trump administration is accusing a group of protesters of being terrorists and says they are part of a “North-Texas antifa cell.”

US district judge Mark Pittman, an appointee of Donald Trump, declared a mistrial only hours after jury selection began at the federal courthouse in downtown Fort Worth. He abruptly halted the proceedings after MarQuetta Clayton, an attorney for one of the defendants, had been questioning potential jurors for about 20 minutes, taking issue with a shirt she was wearing underneath a black blazer. The shirt contained images of civil rights movement leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr and Shirley Chisholm, as well as images of protests from that time.

Clayton was present in the courtroom all day with her shirt visible to Pittman, but the judge did not stop the proceedings until Clayton began questioning the approximately 75 potential jurors who had assembled.

Pittman claimed the shirt sent a political message that could bias jurors and equate the actions of the defendants in the case with that of the civil rights movement, adding that the decision to wear the shirt may have been intentional. Pittman also argued that the defense lawyers would be outraged if prosecutors were to wear shirts that showed pro-ICE or pro-Trump imagery in front of a jury.

The mistrial means the trial will start over with a completely new panel of potential jurors. The judge announced the trial would restart on Monday at 9am..

“I don’t think I have any choice but to declare a mistrial,” said Pittman, who also admonished Clayton for showing a poster to potential jurors that had not been submitted to the court ahead of time. “This has to be a first in the history of American jurisprudence, I would think.”

Clayton is running for a county judge position in Texas, where early voting started on Tuesday. She declined to comment as she left the courthouse, only saying that she would continue to represent her client in the case.

The nine defendants whose trial began on Tuesday were part of a group of protesters who were criminally charged after a demonstration at an ICE detention facility near Fort Worth on 4 July.

Demonstrators set off fireworks outside in solidarity with people detained inside, and some of the protesters are accused of spraying graffiti on a guard shack and vehicles in the parking lot, slashing the tires on a government vehicle and destroying a security camera. In court papers, prosecutors described the incident as a coordinated attack, saying the protesters dressed in all black to conceal their identities and were armed. They also alleged one protester shot and wounded a police officer on the scene.

The case is the first time the government has filed terrorism charges against antifa, short for anti-fascist, which is not a defined entity but rather an umbrella of left-leaning ideologies. The Trump administration has vowed to crack down on antifa, and experts believe the case could set a dangerous precedent for prosecutors to bring criminal charges against protesters who demonstrate against ICE.

Lawyers for the nine defendants unanimously agreed they did not think a mistrial was necessary, questioning whether jurors had even seen Clayton’s shirt and saying any potential bias could be rooted out during jury selection by questioning the jurors. Shawn Smith, the lead federal prosecutor in the case, did not take a position, simply saying he had not seen a similar situation before.

Harrison Stables, 23, one of the potential jurors who was dismissed after Pittman declared a mistrial, said in an interview he did not see Clayton’s shirt, nor did he think it would have influenced his decision-making in the case at all.

Another dismissed juror who declined to give his name said he recognized the imagery on the shirt as saying something about “the fight”, but that it would not have biased his assessment of the case.

“I struggle to understand how this could be fair or reasonable in this judicial environment,” Lydia Koza, whose wife Autumn Hill is one of the defendants, said in an interview across the street from the courthouse where supporters had gathered with signs, coffee and food. A cadre of family members, attorneys, journalists, observers and supporters also crammed into an overflow room in the federal courthouse to watch jury selection through a simulcast on Tuesday.

Before the mistrial, questions to the potential jurors on Tuesday offered a glimpse into themes that are likely to be key to the strategy on both sides in the case. Smith, the prosecutor, asked potential jurors about bias against ICE and President Trump, among other issues. Clayton asked jurors about the difference between a riot, a noise demonstration and a protest, and whether it was ever acceptable to bring a gun to a protest.

Pittman’s decision on Tuesday came after a series of pretrial rulings penalizing lawyers for the defense. In December, he ordered three defense attorneys to each pay a $500 fine for filing aggressive motions for discovery. He also nearly blocked George Lobb, an attorney, from representing one of the defendants, saying he had not met the residency requirements to practice in the district. Lobb eventually withdrew from the federal case and Clayton replaced him.

After declaring the mistrial, Pittman gave a short speech decrying partisan division in the country, saying he was “absolutely disgusted” by it and that “we have to find a way to turn down the anger”.