Two Los Angeles protesters had been convicted late Friday of stalking a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent after they adopted him to his Baldwin Park residence.
In a break up verdict that adopted a weeklong trial, Ashleigh Brown and Cynthia Raygoza had been every discovered responsible of 1 depend of stalking and acquitted of 1 depend of conspiring to publish protected private details about a federal worker. A 3rd defendant, Sandra Samane, was acquitted of each counts.
Jurors deliberated for roughly 9 hours earlier than reaching a verdict Friday night. As U.S. District Choose Stephen V. Wilson learn the decision, folks within the gallery started to cry, tears silently streaming down their faces.
The case stemmed from an incident when the three ladies — who’ve all been frequently concerned in protests in opposition to the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration actions in Southern California — adopted an unmarked authorities automobile because it drove away from the downtown Los Angeles federal detention middle on Aug. 28, 2025.
Some supporters within the gallery stated in the course of the week that this case was a take a look at of the boundaries of protest in opposition to the Trump administration. Whereas following ICE and Border Patrol brokers to enforcement websites has change into a standard protest tactic in L.A. and different cities, the case gave the impression to be the primary occasion of protesters confronting a federal agent at their residence.
Below First Assistant U.S. Atty. Invoice Essayli, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have aggressively charged protesters with assaulting and impeding the actions of immigration brokers, submitting greater than 100 instances. Whereas they’ve secured responsible pleas in 23 of these instances, they’d misplaced each case they took to trial till Friday.
“We thank the jury for bringing justice to those agitators who violated the regulation and endangered the protection of this federal officer and his household,” Essayli stated in a publish on X. “Peaceable protests are protected by the Structure, political violence and illegal intimidation usually are not.”
Raygoza, 38, of Riverside and Brown, 38, of Aurora, Colo., every withstand 5 years in federal jail, in keeping with Essayli. Their sentencing listening to is scheduled for June 8.
Video performed at trial confirmed Brown, Raygoza and Samane following the agent’s automobile from downtown L.A. to Baldwin Park. The complete incident was livestreamed on the favored “ice_out_ofla” Instagram account.
As they drive, the ladies might be heard discussing the likelihood that the automobile is headed towards an immigration enforcement operation. In addition they referred to as on their Instagram followers to reply to Baldwin Park to protest any doable raids — a tactic used repeatedly in cities the place the Trump administration has aggressively carried out immigration enforcement.
However the agent they had been following — recognized in courtroom as Rogelio Reyes Huitzilin — was headed residence. In the course of the trial, Huitzilin informed jurors he was assembly up together with his spouse and two younger youngsters for a deliberate “shock” when he seen Brown, Raygoza and Samane on his block sporting masks.
Huitzilin exited his automobile holding up his personal digicam telephone alongside his spouse, and the 2 teams received right into a heated alternate, in keeping with video performed in courtroom.
Raygoza referred to as Huitzilin a “pendejo” and “race traitor” whereas screaming to onlookers, “Your neighbor is an ICE agent!” She additionally referred to him by a homosexual slur in Spanish, threatened to throw espresso in his face and referred to as his spouse, who’s Latina, a “white b—,” in keeping with prosecutors and photographs performed in courtroom.
“I used to be disgusted that my spouse and I had been being subjected to that stage of racism,” Huitzilin stated in courtroom this week.
In response, video footage reveals him stepping very near the protesters and later bodily blocking them from leaving the realm till Baldwin Park police arrived. Huitzilin alleged he had been “assaulted” by Raygoza, however there isn’t a video proof exhibiting that.
The Los Angeles County district lawyer’s workplace declined to cost Raygoza with battery in December, data present.
Whereas Huitzilin stated he was involved the ladies may need weapons, none had been recovered on the scene and nobody was injured.
Federal prosecutors quickly indicted the ladies on prices of conspiracy and disclosing the non-public info of a federal agent, which is successfully a federal anti-doxing statute. “Doxing” is a slang time period for revealing an individual’s personal info on-line.
The “ice_out_ofla” account, which has virtually 50,000 followers, printed an deal with on Chelsfield Road close to the place the agent lived, in keeping with data proven in courtroom. The publish displayed an image of Huitzilin, calling him a “scumbag,” in keeping with photographs displayed by prosecutors at trial.
In courtroom, Homeland Safety Investigator Robert Kurtz admitted he erroneously listed the deal with printed by the protester account as Huitzilin’s in a number of studies and affidavits. The doxing cost was dropped after he knowledgeable a prosecutor of his error late final 12 months. However prosecutors added a stalking cost as a substitute, of which Brown and Raygoza had been finally convicted.
Huitzilin informed jurors that his household has lived in worry ever for the reason that incident. They moved out of Baldwin Park; one in all his sons, fearing backlash, opted to be residence schooled; and his youngest son, who’s autistic, misplaced entry to some wanted college companies. His spouse, who broke down in tears on the stand this week, stated she barely sleeps most nights and is present process remedy after the incident.
However beneath cross-examination, Huitzilin admitted no different protesters got here to his home after that day, and he by no means heard from the defendants once more. Baldwin Park Police Lt. Evan Martin informed The Instances “no different incidents comparable in nature or associated to this incident have occurred” on the Chelsfield Road residence.
Regardless of his issues that his residence was now not protected, Huitzilin additionally admitted in courtroom that he has not offered the property and a number of other of his relations nonetheless dwell there.
Attorneys for Brown, Raygoza and Samane spent the week arguing that the federal government’s case was blown out of proportion. The defendants didn’t know who Huitzilin was, or have any intention of figuring out his residence deal with or harassing him. Attorneys additionally stated it was Huitzilin who initiated the confrontation on Chelsfield Road by approaching the ladies.
“They by no means point out him by identify. They didn’t know his identify. The agent made this complete state of affairs about himself,” Raygoza’s lawyer, Gregory Nicolaysen, stated throughout his closing argument.
Nicolaysen and different attorneys had argued at trial the stalking cost was unattainable to show for the reason that federal penal code requires a defendant to interact in a sample of habits to be responsible of the crime. The ladies solely interacted with the agent on in the future, throughout an incident that lasted 90 minutes, he stated.
“That’s not stalking. This case is way from over,” he stated, vowing to enchantment.
Brown declined to talk to a reporter exterior the courtroom. Samane’s lawyer, Robert Bernstein, celebrated his shopper’s acquittal.
“Free speech nonetheless exists on this nation,” he stated. “The federal authorities can’t criminalize political speech protesting ICE actions.”
Trump administration officers have repeatedly expressed concern that revealing the names of ICE or Border Patrol brokers will result in harassment, however the submitting of felony prices in such instances is uncommon. Publishing sure protected info — like a federal worker’s residence deal with, Social Safety quantity or telephone quantity — for the aim of inciting harassment or violence is a federal crime.
However the trial uncovered way more private details about the agent and his household than the alleged doxing incident. The protesters by no means talked about his identify on their dwell stream and by no means printed his precise residence deal with. In the course of the three-day trial, prosecutors disclosed Huitzilin’s full identify, his spouse’s full identify, the names and ages of their youngsters, their now-former residence deal with and particulars about Huitzilin’s profession as a federal agent and army fight veteran.
A spokesman for the U.S. lawyer’s workplace declined to reply questions on whether or not prosecutors thought of how rather more info they could expose about Huitzilin earlier than bringing the case to trial.
