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Texas man sentenced to 30 years for transporting pamphlets

freedom.press

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Re: Texas man sentenced to 30 years for transporting pamphlets

#21

Post by lanyard-textile »

NoSalt wrote: post #8

Misleading title. The relevant sentence is this: > "The prosecution claimed Sanchez moved the zines so they wouldn’t incriminate his wife, who attended a protest outside the Prairieland immigration detention center near Dallas, where a police officer was wounded by gunfire." The "Texas man" in question was involved in evidence tampering in a case that involved the shooting of a police officer. The title here makes it…

I understand your inference but I don't think we know enough to conclude that with the information here, especially judging by other comments.

We don't know if he was truly involved in any kind of evidence tampering, if he was prosecuted for it, or something else.

Re: Texas man sentenced to 30 years for transporting pamphlets

#22

Post by marcosdumay »

NoSalt wrote: post #8

Misleading title. The relevant sentence is this: > "The prosecution claimed Sanchez moved the zines so they wouldn’t incriminate his wife, who attended a protest outside the Prairieland immigration detention center near Dallas, where a police officer was wounded by gunfire." The "Texas man" in question was involved in evidence tampering in a case that involved the shooting of a police officer. The title here makes it…

"Involved" the shooting of a police officer in the loosest possible sense. If the guy's wife had any relation at all with the shooting, it would be explicit in the article.

Re: Texas man sentenced to 30 years for transporting pamphlets

#23

Post by verdverm »

functionmouse wrote: post #2

May I see the zine?

Wikipedia has an image of a few https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Prairieland_ICE_detention...

There are some pretty standard anarchist / anti-government like zines.

You can find them on the various zine aggregators like: https://guides.library.illinois.edu/zines/online

Feminist culture coming out of the 70s also incorporates many of the same themes. The first one at the zine link, "Moral Revolution - Creating new values, undermining oppression, and connecting across difference" by Kriti Sharma is quite good.

Re: Texas man sentenced to 30 years for transporting pamphlets

#24

Post by tbrownaw »

frakt0x90 wrote: post #19
mikestew wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s still a flimsy basis for the case. He didn’t attend the protest nor even knew about it. The motivation wasn’t proven, it’s all in the prosecution’s head for all we know.

And even so, why on Earth would tampering with evidence warrant 30 years in prison? That is inhumane.

I would think that a coverup should always be treated as slightly worse than the thing being covered up. Because of general "don't design systems with perverse incentives" principles.

Re: Texas man sentenced to 30 years for transporting pamphlets

#25

Post by TimorousBestie »

fc417fc802 wrote: post #15

The article attempts to frame this as a speech issue but isn't it actually some sort of obstruction or concealing violation? But what was even the point? The pamphlets were never going to be the smoking gun. Also since when does obstruction net you 30 years? And apparently the judge openly made a statement indicating unconstitutional bias on his part in court. So I guess the entire thing is a farce meant to intimidat…

> And apparently the judge openly made a statement indicating unconstitutional bias on his part in court. So I guess the entire thing is a farce meant to intimidate the average joe.

Yeah, the judge is well aware that every court this case can be appealed to already agrees with him. The legal arguments and the facts of the case are causally disconnected from the outcome.

Re: Texas man sentenced to 30 years for transporting pamphlets

#26

Post by DangitBobby »

NoSalt wrote: post #8

Misleading title. The relevant sentence is this: > "The prosecution claimed Sanchez moved the zines so they wouldn’t incriminate his wife, who attended a protest outside the Prairieland immigration detention center near Dallas, where a police officer was wounded by gunfire." The "Texas man" in question was involved in evidence tampering in a case that involved the shooting of a police officer. The title here makes it…

I recommend reading the whole thing to find the relevant bits. The judge says he is sentencing based on thought crime.

> U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor said he intended to “send a message to anyone who shares a similar ideology.”

> The following can be attributed to Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern:

    “If prosecutors are correct that Sanchez moved zines because he feared they’d try to use them against his wife, that’s a commentary on prosecutors’ lawlessness, not Sanchez’s. Under the First Amendment, possessing literature cannot be criminal, so what legitimate evidence could he possibly have been concealing? Political zines like those Sanchez possessed are no different from the pro-Revolution pamphlets this country’s founders had in mind when they drafted the First Amendment’s press clause.

    “Sanchez’s case is the latest example of the Trump administration grasping at any legal straws it can to criminalize disfavored ideologies and writings, from conflating dissent with terrorism to deporting immigrants who report on protests or criticize wars the U.S. bankrolls. Americans should not make the mistake of believing Sanchez’s sentence only threatens immigrants, leftists, or so-called Antifa members — they’re just the low-hanging fruit, not the end game.”

Re: Texas man sentenced to 30 years for transporting pamphlets

#28

Post by fc417fc802 »

pjc50 wrote: post #5

Anyone got the actual indictment? From linked https://freedes.net/jun-23rd-2026-press-release/ : "Sanchez Estrada, a 39-year-old artist, was found guilty on March 13, 2026, alongside eight codefendants who participated in an anti-ICE protest at the controversial Alvarado ICE detention facility. Under the auspices of “National Security Presidential Memorandum-7,” which was issued after the killing of Christian nationa…

Assuming the quoted source can be trusted then we've got a conspiracy without knowledge of the thing being conspired about plus a blatantly unconstitutional line of argument regarding political views (either held or written take your pick). Last I checked creating a pamphlet about how awesome and amazing Bin Laden was qualified as protected speech.

Re: Texas man sentenced to 30 years for transporting pamphlets

#29

Post by sekh60 »

frakt0x90 wrote: post #19
mikestew wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s still a flimsy basis for the case. He didn’t attend the protest nor even knew about it. The motivation wasn’t proven, it’s all in the prosecution’s head for all we know.

And even so, why on Earth would tampering with evidence warrant 30 years in prison? That is inhumane.

They aren't a cop.

Re: Texas man sentenced to 30 years for transporting pamphlets

#30

Post by tbrownaw »

marcosdumay wrote: post #22
NoSalt wrote: post #8

Misleading title. The relevant sentence is this: > "The prosecution claimed Sanchez moved the zines so they wouldn’t incriminate his wife, who attended a protest outside the Prairieland immigration detention center near Dallas, where a police officer was wounded by gunfire." The "Texas man" in question was involved in evidence tampering in a case that involved the shooting of a police officer. The title here makes it…

"Involved" the shooting of a police officer in the loosest possible sense. If the guy's wife had any relation at all with the shooting, it would be explicit in the article.

> would be explicit in the article.

This is blatantly an advocacy piece, so that's not a valid assumption.

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