The first day of jury selection in a federal Antifa-related terrorism trial in Texas fell into disrepair on Tuesday over an attorney’s political shirt, according to multiple reports.
Trump-appointed Judge Mark Pittman declared a mistrial for nine people accused of organizing a July 2025 attack against an Alvarado immigration facility, citing defense lawyer MarQuetta Clayton’s “politically charged” shirt bearing images of Shirley Chisholm and other civil rights movement figures, KERA and journalist Andy Ngo reported. The day also brought another roadblock as prospective jurors expressed hostile opinions toward Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and President Donald Trump while under questioning, according to KERA.
Clayton, who represents defendant Maricela Rueda, did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Pittman’s ruling marks a rocky start to the U.S. prosecutors’ first terrorism case against alleged members of an “Antifa cell,” seven of whom have pleaded guilty to crimes supporting the group’s anti-government mission.
“I don’t know why in the world you would think that’s appropriate,” Pittman told Clayton about her shirt, according to Newsweek. The shirt could prejudice jurors by suggesting that the nine defendants’ actions are similar to civil rights leaders, Pittman reportedly said.
The nine defendants organized a protest where Antifa radicals arrived in black clothing, graffitied the ICE building, threw fireworks and eventually shot at law enforcement, nearly killing a local police officer, the Department of Justice (DOJ) alleges. The case led to an eleven-day manhunt for alleged ringleader Benjamin Song, who is set to testify in his own defense, and several more arrests on federal and state charges related to hiding Song or case evidence from authorities.
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