FORT WORTH, TX – U.S. District Court Judge Mark Pittman declared a mistrial on Tuesday, February 17th, the first day of jury selection in the Prairieland trial, a federal case involving nine defendants that stems from a July 4, 2025, noise demonstration at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. Prairieland is an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility which has received significant criticism for inhumane conditions and mistreatment of detainees, most recently for the treatment of Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian activist who suffered a stroke while in custody.
Judge Pittman attributed the mistrial to issues with one attorney's attire. MarQuetta Clayton, the lawyer representing Maricela Rueda, wore a shirt beneath her blazer which featured black-and-white images of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders, in honor of Rev. Jesse Jackson's passing. In addressing her shirt, Judge Pittman compared it to “a shirt with Donald Trump riding an eagle," adding, "I don't know why in the world you would think that's appropriate." Pittman only declared the mistrial after repeatedly attacking Clayton over the efficacy of her questions to the jury, such as using a poster to contrast peaceful images from noise demonstrations with a riot, and asking potential jurors whether they believe guns should be brought to a protest. Cheryl Ananda, an observer in court, said, "Judge Pittman made his racial biases clear through his behavior and through this decision. He has shown his prejudicial approach to the Prairieland case itself."
Evan Grace, a representative from the anti-repression community organization Fire Ant Movement Defense, who came to observe court proceedings, describes the judge's comments as unacceptable. "Using an homage to the late Reverend Jesse Jackson to unilaterally dismiss a jury deemed too sympathetic, in a case in which the right to protest is on trial, is an affront to the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement."
Supporters claim the mistrial is an attempt to convene another jury more sympathetic to the political aims of the prosecution. In the final press conference of the day, Lydia Koza, wife of defendant Autumn Hill, cautioned that, "the jury pool is not a slot machine... The judge and the prosecution do not get to re-roll this as many times as they want."
Though Judge Pittman called for a new jury to be impaneled next Tuesday, February 24th, others present expressed surprise and optimism at the character of the initial randomly-selected pool. In the same press conference, Amber Lowrey, sister of defendant Savannah Batten, said, "I have to say, there's a shift happening. I think everybody knows it. I would have never expected to hear so many people, so many jurors from one single jury pool actually take this opportunity to voice their concern about ICE, about the erosion of first and second amendment rights." The new trial will be held in a smaller court room, with a jury pool of 130 instead of this week's 75.
Supporters emphasize that this delay lengthens the stay in Tarrant County Jail for all 9 defendants. Representatives from the DFW Support Committee have spoken previously about the defendants' experiences while incarcerated. Hannah Reed, a member of the support committee, says, "even before their first day in court, they have suffered long stints in solitary, denial of confidential access to their lawyers, and invasive and outrageous practices like repeated strip searches and being transported handcuffed in wheelchairs."
Tarrant County Jail has previously faced scrutiny and lawsuits for their mistreatment of prisoners. Reed continues, "Tarrant County is not giving them adequate food, or the opportunity to shower and shave before court. This is not only dehumanizing, but also makes it harder to mount a persuasive defense."
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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. After the protest, an officer with the Alvarado Police Department allegedly became involved in an exchange of gunfire soon after arrival. The officer allegedly sustained minor injuries, and was reportedly released from the hospital shortly afterwards. Authorities have still not provided hospital records to justify these claims, seven months later. Alvarado police arrested ten people in the area, and a manhunt ensued in the subsequent days for another defendant. Eight more defendants were arrested in the days and weeks following the protest.
Yet, supporters are refuting the claims of terrorism and planned violence. “The Prairieland case is a protest case involving people expressing solidarity with detained immigrants,” said Amber Lowrey, sister of defendant Savanna Batten. “The federal government is trying to reframe protest activity as terrorism, and we’re seeing this attempted across the country, in Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland, and now here in Dallas-Fort Worth.”
Prejudicial and sweeping statements related to these cases have been made repeatedly by officials at the highest levels of government, polluting the perceptions of the public from which the jury will be drawn and undermining the defendants’ ability to get a fair trial. The Trump administration has publicly claimed that the Prairieland case is the first legal case against “Antifa,” widely considered to be an informal set of anti-authoritarian beliefs, but recently designated as a domestic terrorist organization. On September 25, the White House released the National Security Presidential Memorandum-7 (NSPM-7), which ordered all federal law enforcement agencies to prioritize combating Antifa as a domestic terrorism threat. FBI director Kash Patel has called the defendants “Antifa-aligned anarchist violent extremists,” sharing Fox News coverage of the case on X.
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