This represent another defeat for the trump regime's lawfare assault on the American people by using the DoJ to specifically target innocent political enemies https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jonathan-caravello-not-guilty_n_69d801e6e4b048dba44c0d5fLOS ANGELES — A California philosophy lecturer accused of assaulting federal agents after removing a tear gas canister from a crowd — the same canister that a U.S. Border Patrol agent had thrown at protesters during an immigration raid — was found not guilty by a jury on Thursday.Jonathan Caravello, 38, faced up to 20 years in prison if he was convicted of the charge. The verdict is the latest blow to the Trump administration, which has thrown baseless assault charges at people who protest its mass deportation operations — but has repeatedly failed to secure convictions.By the government’s own admission, no federal agent was hit or harmed by the canister, which flew over the heads of agents and landed far behind them. Prosecutors argued instead that Caravello threatened and intended to harm agents, although they failed to identify a specific individual who was supposedly at risk of being harmed. Caravello’s attorney presented evidence that Border Patrol agents deployed tear gas indiscriminately at peaceful protesters and observers without reason or warning, and that Caravello was acting in self-defense when he threw the canister away from the crowd.The jury returned their verdict after roughly two hours of deliberation.The case stemmed from a July 10 immigration raid at Glass House Farms, a cannabis farm in Camarillo, California. The raid marked an early demonstration of the brutality of the Trump administration’s anti-immigration agenda: Federal agents arrested at least 361 immigrants across two Glass House facilities and one worker, 56-year-old Jaime Alanis García, fell from a 30-foot roof after calling his family to telling them he was hiding from federal agents. He died days later.
Caravello, an active member of his labor and tenants union, had been participating in patrols to monitor and respond to immigration raids in his community. By the time he heard about the Glass House raid, federal agents had blocked off the road leading to the facility, his former student, Angelmarie Taylor, who was with him at the raid, previously told HuffPost. People gathered near the blockade, trying to get information about their loved ones who were trapped inside. Over the course of several hours, the crowd documented and protested the unfolding raid. Agents deployed rubber bullets, pepper spray and tear gas into the crowd, which included children and elderly community members.Around 12:50 p.m., a Border Patrol agent threw a tear gas canister that landed near Caravello. After an unsuccessful attempt to kick it away from the crowd, he picked it up and threw it in a high arc over the heads of the federal agents. Although the canister did not hit or injure any agent, Caravello was arrested later that day and eventually charged with assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous or deadly weapon.The jury selection process on Tuesday provided a glimpse into the strong opposition to the federal government’s anti-immigration policies in Los Angeles county, which is nearly 50% Hispanic or Latino, and has been terrorized by immigration raids since last summer. Of the pool of more than 60 potential jurors, about 20 said they had participated in protests. Several described being personally at risk from immigration agents or having family members deported. When U.S. District Judge Cynthia Valenzuela asked the potential jurors if any of them had opinions of Border Patrol, the Department of Homeland Security, or the federal government that would prevent them from being an impartial juror, at least 10 voiced concerns.“I just don’t like them. I don’t like their morals,” said one potential juror.
If someone was throwing tear gas at federal agents, “I might applaud them,” another said.“I would want to crucify them,” said a third, referring to the federal government.Throughout the trial, federal prosecutors went out of their way to avoid describing the role of immigration enforcement in the case. They described the Glass House immigration raid as federal agents conducting a lawful search warrant related to illegal labor practices. They argued that protesters put federal agents at risk by tipping off the targets of the search warrant and giving them time to hide evidence or lie in wait to attack agents.Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Hsieh, the lead prosecutor on the case, is the chief of the major frauds section in the Central District of California and has prosecuted multimillion-dollar fraud cases. His work on the case shows the level of resources the federal government is putting into politically motivated prosecutions against protesters.The government’s case centered around testimony from Shawn Hinca and Rafael Cortez, Border Patrol Mobile Response Team agents who are based in Ohio but conducted crowd control at the Camarillo raid.Throughout their testimony, they struggled to thread seemingly conflicting arguments. Tear gas, when thrown by armed federal agents wearing helmets, gas masks, protective eye wear and bulletproof vests at unarmed protesters, constitutes a “less lethal” weapon and is a necessary crowd control tool, they testified. But when a protester throws the same tear gas canister back over the heads of agents — even in such a way that causes no harm to the agents — it constitutes felony assault with a deadly or dangerous weapon, they said.
The government’s depiction of the events of July 10 were repeatedly contradicted by federal agents’ own body-camera footage. The government argued that Caravello showed he intended to assault agents when he yelled, “Put that fucking canister back in your pants. Throw it right back in your fucking face.” But the footage clearly shows Caravello aiming the canister over the heads and to the side of the agents in front of him.The footage also showed the agents laughing over their use of tear gas and celebrating so-called Triple-Chaser canisters as “fucking awesome.” Minutes before Cortez deployed the tear gas canister that Caravello threw, he rejected a suggestion from another agent to create a diversion to move protesters away from the road and called for more tear gas.“We’ll fucking gas the shit out of them like we did earlier,” Cortez said.Prosecutors presented a Triple-Chaser tear gas canister as evidence and elicited testimony from Border Patrol agents describing the canister as the size of a Coke can and capable of breaking cheekbones, nose and teeth. On cross-examination, however, one of the agents admitted that the actual canister thrown by Caravello was a pocket tear gas canister, which is smaller and lighter. Prosecutors also argued that Caravello’s overhand throw was particularly dangerous, although body-camera footage shows a federal agent throwing a tear gas canister at protesters overhand.The Border Patrol agents testified that they needed to deploy tear gas at protesters to clear the road for Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles to get through, but their bodycam footage showed them throwing canisters at protesters who were not blocking traffic, well after the vehicles had passed through the crowd.
Caravello’s attorney Knut Johnson called three witnesses who were present at the protest outside of Glass House Farms. The first, migrant justice worker Noemi Tungüi, said she went to Glass House to support members of her community who were trying to get answers about loved ones impacted by the raid. She stayed until 3 a.m., assisting community members.Tungüi described federal agents as “really aggressive” and “unprofessional.” She testified that she was hit with tear gas three times, causing her to struggle to breathe and experience bubbling on her skin for days. She still has scars on her forehead, she said, and worries about reproductive issues related to her exposure to the gas. She described Caravello as “bravely” trying to protect community members when he threw the canister away from the crowd.Another witness, retired CSU Channel Islands chemistry lecturer Nancy Deans, testified that her skin burned so badly from exposure to “chemical weapons” that she drove home in only her bra.In his closing argument, Johnson argued that not only was his client innocent, but that Border Patrol agents were, in fact, the ones assaulting protesters. He criticized the government’s “sloppy prosecution,” “utter nonsense” testimony from Cortez, and accused federal agents of lying to jurors in their testimony.What makes democracy great, Johnson told jurors, is, “You can say, ‘No, government, you’re wrong.’”Each day of the three-day trial, the courtroom filled with community members. Current and former students and colleagues from CSU Channel Islands, made the 70-mile trip to the downtown Los Angeles courtroom. Members of Caravello’s labor union, the California Faculty Association, from various universities and Los Angeles-area students who had heard about the case also came to show support for the professor.
Trump administration singlehandedly destroying federal conviction rates.
In an actual justice system, lying directly to the court would get those agents at least fired. Normal people might have gone to jail for it.
>>1504948Yeah holy shit. The only silver lining is that this leaves open the possibility of a non-insane admin prosecuting them for all this shit.
>>1504951Which almost certainly won't happen in the misguided name of moving on and reconciling.Then people will inevitably lose their memory, put one of the followups the administration is cultivating in charge, and they'll all do it again.
>>1504956Unless the democrats can scam the voters with another conservative like Biden, their voters absolutely want revenge to make sure this doesn't happen again.
>>1504948>In an actual justice system, lying directly to the court would get those agents at least firedAt least they won't be able to testify in any trials going forward. Sucks that's probably all that will happen to them.
>>1504957Unfortunately the DNC won't allow that to happen. The Democrats have been sabotaged from within because of them. Well we're still 2 years off an election and shit will undoubtedly get much worse, so who knows what will happen.
>>1504957Garland was one of the only fuckups Biden admitted to. Granted, that was after Garland started aggressively going after Hunter, but still.>>1504969If they get Gavin into the presidency, that'll basically be the nail in the coffin for voter enthusiasm for the next two decades. It's like, these faggots get called Liberals, but they aren't even that. You have to believe in liberty, rule of law, democracy, equality/fairness, and enlightened values to be Liberal.
>>1504936>The jury selection process on Tuesday provided a glimpse into the strong opposition to the federal government’s anti-immigration policies in Los Angeles county, which is nearly 50% Hispanic or Latino, and has been terrorized by immigration raids since last summer. Of the pool of more than 60 potential jurors, about 20 said they had participated in protests. Several described being personally at risk from immigration agents or having family members deported.One of the reasons why 'jury of your peers' doesn't work anymore. All anybody needs to do to skew the system in favor of your """community""" is import your """"""community"""""" and then have them show up for jury duty.
>>1504980its wild its 2026 and an indian shill is telling me that normal LA people acting like normal LA people are actually foreign plants
>>1504969Never say die, especially when Zohran beat the right wing uniparty.Although they're still doing their damnest to sabotage him between the NY state legislator and the conservatively biased media trashing him daily.
>>1504981>The jury selection process on Tuesday provided a glimpse into the strong opposition to the federal government’s anti-immigration policies in Los Angeles county, which is nearly 50% Hispanic or Latino, and has been terrorized by immigration raids since last summer.>which is nearly 50% Hispanic or Latino>which is nearly 50% Hispanic or Latino
>>1504991>jury of Latinos acquit a white guyShows you just how much they all hate trump and his jackboots
>>1504993>Jury of US citizens acquit innocent man for acting in self defense.Ftfy
>>1504980>being acquitted is....le badIf the shoe was on the other foot you'd have a meltdown about tyranny and government overreach.
>>1504957The DNC doesn't let people actually vote in their primaries, so the only candidates that will get through will be establishment dickwads.
>>1505012Tyranny and government overreach only happen when the government violates the law.
>>1505107Meanwhile in GOPland:https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/white-house-failed-push-candidate-indiana-republican-senate-primary-rcna267361>How the White House tried — and failed — to push a candidate out of a Republican state Senate primary in Indiana
>>1505110Which is much worse
>>1505000Not only self defense, but coming to aid of others under attack.
>>1505107Establishment dickwads are better than the deranged incompetent christofascists we have now. Vote for good candidates in your local elections, and advocate for ranked choice voting.
>>1505236I mean that is true of course, but it will massively demoralize the voting base to get a shit option once again. Not to mention some establishment douchebag likely won't go hard on prosecuting the Trump regime or do much about all the other shit that led to this, which will just allow it all to happen again in the future. We need an actual progressive and someone with the balls to punish these pricks.
>>1505236>ranked choice votingDNC shills are strong today
>>1505251>We need an actual progressive and someone with the balls to punish these pricks.Yeah, we do. You're right.We aren't going to get that. Politics is about compromise. First we need to get back to relative sanity. Then we need to push increasingly progressive candidates, and especially ranked choice voting, so we can break out of this two party bullshit.If you are demanding instantaneous change, and are so disappointed things don't go your way you give up, it's because you sabotaged yourself with insanely unrealistic expectations. That makes you a fair-weather ally and frankly a liability. (Note I'm not accusing you specifically, just 'disenfranchised left leaning voters in general.)>>1505262And closeted republican retards are as weak as they always are, and can't even provide a good argument against the system that will make them unelectable.
>>1505284>progressiveI'm tired of right wingers wearing left wing clothing.Progressives need MAID.
>>1504935>someone with the balls to punish these pricks.Punish them for what?
>>1505287Thanks to the character limits, we literally can't cover everything fucked up this admin has done, from the estimated 600k people who are dead because USAID was canceled (but we should take care of our own first, it's not like helping people across the globe creates goodwill toward us and stability we directly benefit from/s), to the pump and dumps schemes he's pulled with the stock market, to the meme coins he fucked his followers on, to the Doge firings and retiring of essential personnel, to the deportation and harassment of American citizens by ICE, to the illegal executive orders he keeps writing that overreach his powers as president.Fuck you for not knowing this, you are a dogshit piece of human garbage, derilict in your duty to me and every other American citizen. Fuck you for being an ignorant piece of shit when the stakes are quite literally our way of life.
>>1505286Oh, then you should vote for and elect the left wingers you want.What's that? That literally isn't an option? Then quit being a bitch and vote for the obviously better of the two bad options, and advocate for actual progressive and ranked choice voting in your area.
>>1505262Why is ranked choice voting bad?
>>1505296Let me help>I want to selectively enforce the law!!!>I want to complain and I do not care about what I'm complaining about!!!>>1505297I did.
>>1505342Ranked choice voting results in less favorable outcomes for voters. It is more likely for voters that their primary choice will not be elected. The process of elimination also leads to unexpected outcomes, for example in a tight race between 3 parties, the party that gets eliminated could have all their votes added to the far less popular candidate if everyone put them 2nd and they could beat the seemingly more popular candidate. E.g. in a tight race between democrats and republicans, all the democrats might put their second choice as socialist. If the republicans win the first round, all those losing democrat votes get added to the socialist vote, and you suddenly have a huge socialist victory. Whenever someone tries to fuck with the way voting is done, it's usually because they're trying to rig the system in their favor. It's the same reason why democrats keep trying to abolish the electoral college.
>>1505343>I can absolutely understand there is illegal, highly unusual, and massively harmful things going on. I'm referring to this as selectively enforcing the law. My preference is not enforcing any law, so I'm going to strawman you because I'm a massive faggot.
>>1505343That's exactly what trump is doing by turning the DoJ into a personal attack dog to go after this political enemies. The fact that all his prosecutions have failed, like this one is a smoking gun of how he selectively prosecutes.
>>1505296>from the estimated 600k people who are dead because USAID was canceledAre you talking about American citizens? Or just people in general?
>>1505349>It is more likely for voters that their primary choice will not be electedTheir primary choice under a ranked choice system, not their primary choice if they had been forced to vote in a FPTP system.And the reason that is the case is that in ranked choice voting people are comfortable voting for candidates that won't win because doing so can't hurt. If their first choice loses, they still have fallbacks. That's literally the fucking point, you disingenuous sack of shit.>for example in a tight race between 3 parties, the party that gets eliminated could have all their votes added to the far less popular candidate if everyone put them 2nd and they could beat the seemingly more popular candidate.You're describing the center squeeze spoiler effect which is rarer than other spoiler effects and also SOMETHING WE HAVE IN OUR CURRENT SYSTEM DUE TO PRIMARIES YOU FUCKING DUMBASS! In case you hadn't noticed, the parties tend to nominate radical candidates out of their primaries. Also, there is literally no perfect voting system. All of them have spoilers or involve your vote potentially helping a candidate you don't want to win or hurting a candidate you do want to win. It's mathematically impossible to eliminate all 3 considerations.>It's the same reason why democrats keep trying to abolish the electoral college.Dems keep trying to abolish the electoral college because it's fucking undemocratic.Listen, there are no perfect voting systems, but there are 3 good ones.>Ranked choicePrevents the most bad option from winning and prevents any strategic vote fuckery>ApprovalFinds the least bad option>Ranked pairsFinds the most good optionYou will note that FPTP is not on that list.
>>1505355>NYC didn't do dis>Democreeps haven't engaged in over a decade of lawfareEat shit. I'm tired of you and your ilk.
>>1505371>Dems keep trying to abolish the electoral college because it's fucking undemocratic.But the US is a Republic as defined in the Constitution. I think it's not because it's undemocratic. I'm fairly certain it's because Democrats are LOSERS.A huge collection of weird losers that suck and are the most base and disgusting retards.
>>1505372you feed this board shit nonstop but none of us are eating it, esl shill
>>1505371>SOMETHING WE HAVE IN OUR CURRENT SYSTEM DUE TO PRIMARIES YOU FUCKING DUMBASS! Democrats didn't hold a primary in 2024. >Dems keep trying to abolish the electoral college because it's fucking undemocratic.The founders created the electoral college because they knew pure democracies were shit. They literally used Athens, the birthplace of democracy, as a standing example of what to avoid due to all the bribery, threats and murders that happens to constituents in direct democracies. It's obvious that you want to rig the game by fucking with the rules, so maybe you should stop?
>>1505373>But the US is a Republic as defined in the ConstitutionBeing a republic doesn't necessitate an electoral college. Also, precisely because we're a republic, enough states agreeing to fuck the electoral college can effectively get rid of it.>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact
>>1505376They also attempted to remove Trump from the ballot, making Democrats a true enemy of the Democratic process.Only retards continue to fall for their bullshit.
>>1505377Yes, but in doing so they'd also abandon a piece of their stake in the Republic.
>oh boy I can't wait to abandon the electoral college so New York and California can decide presidential elections every four yearsHow fucking retarded are you?
>>1505382>How fucking retarded are you?I-I vote Democrat without shame.
>>1505376>Democrats didn't hold a primary in 2024.They did, actually. That's how the delegates that voted for Kamala Harris got chosen.>The founders created the electoral college becauseSlave states. Because slave states. Glad we sorted that out. And I couldn't give a rat's ass about what voting system the founders wanted. They're dead. They don't get to vote anymore. Also our current voting system wasn't even fucking created by the fucking founders. Invoking them is idiotic. Rules change dipshit.>It's obvious that you want to rig the game by fucking with the rulesIf fairer rules constitute rigging the game to you, you're handicapped. Mentally, I mean.>>1505378>They also attempted to remove Trump from the ballot, making Democrats a true enemy of the Democratic process.You could still have written him in, so not really.>>1505380No? Like I genuinely don't know what asshole you pulled that from. It's nonsense.
>>1505382Republican voters exist in New York and California, dipshit. Dem voters exist in the shithole you live in, too.
>>1505385>Slave states. Because slave states.Well, if it was the slave state's tactic, why do so many Democrats oppose it? I mean Democrats are still doing the 3/5 a person bit they did in the US south using illegal aliens.>No? Like I genuinely don't know what asshole you pulled that from. It's nonsense.So, you've never taken a civics class? Not shocking to me at all. I'm assailed by retarded, uneducated horseshit every single time I come here. Why in the fuck should this time be any fucking different?Why do Democraps believe they're so intelligent, but always seem to fail at basic knowledge and logic? WTF?
>>1505387>why do so many Democrats oppose it?Dems aren't really big on the slave states if you haven't noticed. They tend to be Republican shitholes with a few exceptions.>So, you've never taken a civics class?I have actually, crazy person. Why don't you walk me through how states giving their delegates to the winner of the popular vote=secession?
>>1505390I don't exist to tutor you. And your mantric regurgitated horseshit will only serve to annoy me.So, if you want me to debate you, you're on the electoral college side, and I'll make up the retarded lies.If you're in, go ahead and tell me why we should keep the electoral college.
>>1505396But my beliefs never hold up to scrutiny.
>>1505396I accept your concession. You should have taken civics.
>>1505443I did. I also participated in debates. Doing it this way removes biases that exist.And since you refuse to participate, I revoke that assumed concession, and will accept your unconditional surrender.Thanks :)
>>1505372>Classic rightoid accusation being a confession
>>1505448>And since you refuse to participateWhat are you talking about? You told me to act like I was defending your fucking position, so I invoked my civics education and declared myself the victor without engaging just like you did. That was me participating, just like you asked for.If you can't handle your own medicine, that's a you problem.
>>1505448>>1505466When you argue with an idiot, there are two idiots arguing
>>1505387>>1505396How does one crash out this hard from being asked “what the fuck are you talking about?”
>>1505471>Crash outlol nice try you anti-Democracy dickface.
>>1505485>anti-DemocracyYou are literally arguing in favor of some people's votes counting more than others.
