Federal jury convicts three Spokane anti-ICE protesters of conspiracy under Civil War-era statute

On May 28, 2026, after an eight-day trial and two days of deliberation, a federal jury in Spokane found three protesters guilty of conspiracy against federal officers under 18 U.S.C. § 372 — the first time the Eastern District of Washington has charged a group of protesters under the Civil War-era statute. The defendants — Army combat veteran Bajun Mavalwalla II, activist Justice Forral, and activist and Gonzaga Law School graduate Jac Archer, known collectively as the "Spokane 3" — were prosecuted for their roles in a June 11, 2025 demonstration that formed as ICE agents tried to move detained immigrants to a Tacoma facility. Forral and Archer were convicted of conspiring to impede federal officers and to damage their property; Mavalwalla was convicted of aiding and abetting the conspiracy. Each faces up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000; no sentencing date has been set.

The charge here is the prosecutorial decision to treat protest conduct as felony conspiracy. A day after the protest, the Justice Department sent a memo to U.S. attorneys nationwide directing them to prioritize and publicize cases against demonstrators who interfere with immigration enforcement; the federal arrests in Spokane followed weeks later. Richard Barker, the acting U.S. Attorney for Eastern Washington, resigned rather than sign the indictment, later saying he did not believe a conspiracy charge carrying a six-year term "was true to who I was or wanted to be as a federal prosecutor." Defense lawyers argued there was no agreement to use the force, threat, or intimidation the statute requires — only an agreement to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience, which is constitutionally protected. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pennell, who presided, had ruled before trial that First Amendment questions were the court's province rather than the jury's, limiting how the defense could frame the protected-speech defense.

This entry records the prosecution itself, not the court's evidentiary rulings, which are adjudicative acts rather than the abuse. The selective- prosecution mapping is supported by the resignation of the acting U.S. Attorney, the use of a rarely invoked statute, and the contrast with Illinois, where parallel conspiracy charges against anti-ICE protesters were dismissed amid findings of prosecutorial misconduct. The defendants have signaled Rule 29 motions to set aside the verdicts, with a July 2, 2026 deadline for briefing, and have said they will appeal if those motions fail. Because the convictions remain subject to post-trial motions and appeal, this entry may warrant review as the case proceeds.