On Tuesday, Elizabeth [Soto] was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison; Ines’s sentencing is set for 1 July. All because, as she put it: “They didn’t like my book club.” Her laugh doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

After a three-week trial, a [Texas] jury found eight of nine protesters guilty of “providing material support to terrorists”, among other crimes. For the Sotos, this “material support” included owning a “printing press” used to print anarchist zines and being part of a leftist book club, the federal government argued. The couple had already left the scene by the time guns were drawn. All eight of the defendants sentenced so far have received unusually harsh sentences – 30 to 100 years – essentially life in prison.

    • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      It was a state trial

      Nope, just quoting from the above article (bolds added),

      On Tuesday, Elizabeth was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison … Their attorneys announced their intention to appeal, but many supporters are doubtful that anything short of a presidential pardon from a future administration would free them.