Two Los Angeles protesters have 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 cut up verdict that adopted a weeklong trial, Ashleigh Brown and Cynthia Raygoza have 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, individuals 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 repeatedly concerned in protests in opposition to the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration actions in Southern California — adopted an unmarked authorities car because it drove away from the downtown Los Angeles federal detention heart on Aug. 28, 2025.
Some supporters within the gallery mentioned through 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 develop into a standard protest tactic in L.A. and different cities, the case appeared to be the primary occasion of protesters confronting a federal agent at their residence.
Underneath 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 circumstances. Whereas they’ve secured responsible pleas in 23 of these circumstances, 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 mentioned in a put up on X. “Peaceable protests are protected by the Structure, political violence and illegal intimidation will not be.”
Raygoza, 38, of Riverside and Brown, 38, of Aurora, Colo., every resist 5 years in federal jail, in accordance with Essayli. Their sentencing listening to is scheduled for June 8.
Video performed at trial confirmed Brown, Raygoza and Samane following the agent’s car from downtown L.A. to Baldwin Park. Your complete incident was livestreamed on the favored “ice_out_ofla” Instagram account.
As they drive, the ladies could be heard discussing the likelihood that the car is headed towards an immigration enforcement operation. In addition they referred to as on their Instagram followers to answer 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 have been following — recognized in courtroom as Rogelio Reyes Huitzilin — was headed residence. In the course of the trial, Huitzilin instructed jurors he was assembly up along with his spouse and two younger kids for a deliberate “shock” when he observed Brown, Raygoza and Samane on his block sporting masks.
Huitzilin exited his car holding up his personal digital camera telephone alongside his spouse, and the 2 teams obtained right into a heated trade, in accordance 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 accordance with prosecutors and photographs performed in courtroom.
“I used to be disgusted that my spouse and I have been being subjected to that stage of racism,” Huitzilin mentioned in courtroom this week.
In response, video footage exhibits 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 is no such thing as a video proof displaying that.
The Los Angeles County district legal professional’s workplace declined to cost Raygoza with battery in December, data present.
Whereas Huitzilin mentioned he was involved the ladies might need weapons, none have been recovered on the scene and nobody was injured.
Federal prosecutors quickly indicted the ladies on fees of conspiracy and disclosing the private data of a federal agent, which is successfully a federal anti-doxing statute. “Doxing” is a slang time period for revealing an individual’s non-public data on-line.
The “ice_out_ofla” account, which has nearly 50,000 followers, revealed an tackle on Chelsfield Avenue close to the place the agent lived, in accordance with data proven in courtroom. The put up displayed an image of Huitzilin, calling him a “scumbag,” in accordance with photos displayed by prosecutors at trial.
In courtroom, Homeland Safety Investigator Robert Kurtz admitted he erroneously listed the tackle revealed by the protester account as Huitzilin’s in a number of experiences and affidavits. The doxing cost was dropped after he knowledgeable a prosecutor of his error late final yr. However prosecutors added a stalking cost as a substitute, of which Brown and Raygoza have been in the end convicted.
Huitzilin instructed jurors that his household has lived in concern ever for the reason that incident. They moved out of Baldwin Park; one among his sons, fearing backlash, opted to be residence schooled; and his youngest son, who’s autistic, misplaced entry to some wanted college providers. His spouse, who broke down in tears on the stand this week, mentioned 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 instructed The Occasions “no different incidents related in nature or associated to this incident have occurred” on the Chelsfield Avenue residence.
Regardless of his issues that his residence was not secure, Huitzilin additionally admitted in courtroom that he has not bought the property and several other of his family members nonetheless stay 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 tackle or harassing him. Attorneys additionally mentioned it was Huitzilin who initiated the confrontation on Chelsfield Avenue by approaching the ladies.
“They by no means point out him by title. They didn’t know his title. The agent made this entire state of affairs about himself,” Raygoza’s legal professional, Gregory Nicolaysen, mentioned throughout his closing argument.
Nicolaysen and different attorneys had argued at trial the stalking cost was inconceivable to show for the reason that federal penal code requires a defendant to interact in a sample of conduct to be responsible of the crime. The ladies solely interacted with the agent on at some point, throughout an incident that lasted 90 minutes, he mentioned.
“That’s not stalking. This case is much from over,” he mentioned, vowing to attraction.
Brown declined to talk to a reporter outdoors the courtroom. Samane’s legal professional, Robert Bernstein, celebrated his shopper’s acquittal.
“Free speech nonetheless exists on this nation,” he mentioned. “The federal authorities can not 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 fees in such circumstances is uncommon. Publishing sure protected data — like a federal worker’s residence tackle, Social Safety quantity or telephone quantity — for the aim of inciting harassment or violence is a federal crime.
However the trial uncovered much more private details about the agent and his household than the alleged doxing incident. The protesters by no means talked about his title on their stay stream and by no means revealed his precise residence tackle. In the course of the three-day trial, prosecutors disclosed Huitzilin’s full title, his spouse’s full title, the names and ages of their kids, their now-former residence tackle and particulars about Huitzilin’s profession as a federal agent and navy fight veteran.
A spokesman for the U.S. legal professional’s workplace declined to reply questions on whether or not prosecutors thought-about how far more data they could expose about Huitzilin earlier than bringing the case to trial.
