Prairieland defendants' families promise appeal, warn of precedent after sentencing
The Prairieland Detention Center domestic terrorism case will be appealed, promised families and friends of eight defendants who were sentenced Tuesday morning. They also warned that a dangerous precedent has been set.
The eight defendants, described by federal prosecutors as antifa operatives, were convicted after three weeks of trial and less than two days of jury deliberation in March.
On July 4, 2025, those convicted were part of what defense attorneys called a noise protest outside the Prairieland ICE Detention Center in Johnson County. During the protest, Alvarado police Lt. Thomas Gross was shot in the shoulder.
Those sentenced Tuesday included Benjamin Hanil Song, Maricela Rueda, Elizabeth Soto, Zachary Evetts, Savanna Batten and Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada. Autumn Hill, also known as Cameron Arnold, and Maegan Morris, also known as Bradford Morris, were also sentenced. In total, the sentenced received 450 years in prison.
“These sentences justly punish the vicious, armed attack that these Antifa cell members planned and executed against law enforcement and detention center officers on the night of July 4th last year,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould in a statement after the fact.
Morris’ attorneys said in a statement that an appeal will be filed promptly.
Directly after the maximum prison sentences were handed out by two federal court judges — including a 100-year sentence to Song — loved ones gathered outside the U.S. District Court in Fort Worth.
They said a dangerous precedent has been set that peaceful protesters can receive what amount to life sentences.
“I can’t think of the gravity of what precedent this has set, considering that there are now antifa charges against protesters in Minneapolis,” said Tamera Hutcherson, who was part of Batten’s legal team. “I want that to sink in, that it’s not just here in the North Texas area. This is also now in other parts of our country, and it concerns me what this means for our free speech, as well as our right to protest.”
Lydia Koza, wife of Hill, said she is livid at the distortion of due process used to sentence Hill.
“Autumn and I got married in September of 2024,” Koza said. “We have at this point spent over half of our married life separated by bars and bricks, and now they want to take the rest of this amazing woman’s life.”
Before being cut off by a bystander who said “don’t shoot cops,” Koza said the case is based on a conspiracy theory meant to prop up President Donald Trump’s “campaign of state terror against Americans.”
Koza said the prosecution lied, concealed evidence and cheated the defendants’ constitutional rights to sell a manufactured narrative.
“There is no justice in this,” Koza said.
Law and order did not take place Tuesday, Batten’s sister Aubrey Lowrey said.
She said the case will disintegrate when they get the case out of Texas.
“Prairieland was, without a question, a peaceful noise demonstration before Lieutenant Thomas Gross showed up and started shooting at demonstrators,” Lowrey said.
In her final statement of the press conference, Lowrey thanked Song for being “our good guy with a gun that night.”
Song was convicted of attempted murder in the shooting of Gross. Prosecutors argued that Song planned an ambush with the intent to kills officers, while the defense argued that Song fired into the ground after seeing Gross point his gun at a protester and that the shot that hit the officer might have been a ricochet.
Song’s mother, Hope Song, spoke next and read the statement her son gave in court before being sentenced.
While reading the statement in court, Benjamin Song was interrupted multiple times by Judge Mark Pittman, who told him it wasn’t the time for a political statement and he obviously hasn’t accepted responsibility for his actions.
“He’s accepted full responsibility for what actually happened,” Hope Song said. “But he will never expect or accept responsibility for a lie, a government lie made to prosecute innocent people in order to get political persecutions, which they are now using as a blueprint to prosecute innocent people all over the country as domestic terrorists, which they are not.”
This story was originally published June 23, 2026 at 3:50 PM.