2 Antifa Adherents Guilty of Conspiracy to Riot in PB — One Lawyer Vows Appeal

After nearly eight full days of deliberation, a San Diego jury Friday found two men with antifa ties guilty of conspiracy to riot at a Pacific Beach “Patriots March” in January 2021.

The nationally watched case began with 11 defendants — nine of whom pleaded guilty to lesser charges. An attorney for one of the defendants, Jeremy White, vowed to appeal the conspiracy conviction.

Defendant Brian Lightfoot Jr. of Los Angeles was found not guilty on an assault charge and the jury couldn’t reach a verdict on five counts of using tear gas not in self-defense.

The nine-woman, three-man jury couldn’t reach a verdict on nine counts of tear-gas use or assault during clashes near Crystal Pier three days after the Capitol insurrection in Washington.

White, a 41-year-old, Hollywood set builder from Los Angeles, was found not guilty on his only other charge — assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury.

Both remain free on their own recognizance.

In a statement, District Attorney Summer Stephan said: “We want to thank the jury for their service and for reaching their just guilty verdicts on the two remaining defendants in the Antifa conspiracy case.

“This was a complex case with 11 defendants indicted and now all convicted — nine by guilty pleas and two by jury verdict. The DA team worked tirelessly on this case in order to be sure our community remains safe, and that the rule of law is followed.”

After declaring a mistrial on nine counts, Judge Daniel Goldstein praised the jury, which heard testimony and saw evidence (including hours of video) for a month.

• Listen: Courtroom discussion before jury arrives with verdicts
• Listen: Judge addresses jurors, and jury verdicts are read aloud

“I’ve never seen a jury go over the facts like you did,” he said a little after noon in downtown Superior Court. “You guys are the voice of the community.”

A bailiff led the jury panel out a back door, so none were available for comment. And the judge said he’d keep their names sealed.

Sentencing of White, Lightfoot and eight others was set for June 28 in Goldstein’s court — 1901 in the new courthouse at 1100 Union St.

White and Lightfoot declined to comment immediately on their cases.

But White lawyer Briggs, working for free, said his client “will definitely appeal after sentencing … and I think it’s an amazing appellate area that implicates the First Amendment.”

Briggs says case law would help an appeal on the conspiracy conviction of White, “where there was no evidence. There was no conversations or anything like that.”

Lawyers Rip DA’s Office

He and Lightfoot lawyer John Hamasaki blasted the District Attorney’s Office.

“With the resources they put behind this,” Briggs said, “they wasted a lot of taxpayers money and ultimately haven’t made the community any safer because they still have well-known white supremacists out in the community who had committed numerous vicious assaults that are without dispute that they haven’t prosecuted.”

Hamasaki, also based in the Bay Area, said he’s never seen a district attorney’s office expend this many resources on a single case — even more than multiple murders, gang murders.

“I think you have to look at the political circumstances surrounding it,” he said. noting Stephan’s focus on antifa as a candidate.

“(You) wonder just exactly why this case was given so much resources and why so much energy was poured into it. And at the end of the day, you know, where things ended up, I think [the result] is a repudiation of the use of those resources.”

Briggs previously sought to have the District Attorney’s Office disqualified from prosecuting the case because he alleged Stephan has historically declined to prosecute members of far-right organizations who commit violence.

His motion was denied by Judge Goldstein.

The District Attorney’s Office has said that “video evidence analysis shows that overwhelmingly the violence in this incident was perpetrated by the antifa affiliates and was not a mutual fray with both sides crossing out of lawful First Amendment expression into riot and violence.”

Briggs predicted White would get a moderate sentence — not a maximum 18 months.

He didn’t think Lightfoot would be retried on the nine charges the jury couldn’t agree on.

“It would be a waste of resources for them to retry this case,” Briggs said. “So the bottom line is this is a loss for the DA because she didn’t get all she wanted.”

Hamasaki agreed.

“It’s not a win,” he said. “Nine hung counts is certainly not the way the DA had wanted this case to turn out. I think it shows that things were not as cut and dried as the DA had wanted them to be and that there was a lot of evidence actually favoring Mr. Lightfoot in this case.”

Hamasaki, who isn’t sure yet of any appeal, called the guilty finding on conspiracy “problematic … because it punishes membership or affiliation with other individuals as opposed to the underlying guilty conduct.”

Hoping for Probation

The Lightfoot lawyer said he hopes his client gets only probation, especially since he’s “really turned his life around … and become enrolled in this firefighters program that he’s been at for three or four months. … I think that’s something the judge might consider.”

Hamasaki said the judge might allow him to continue to do that as an alternative, “where he could actually serve the community in a way that … would benefit everyone instead of just incarceration.”

Goldstein issued a set of warnings to both defendants about not contacting victims (or posting about them on social media), not dressing up in “Black Bloc” armored outfits or even associating with other antifa adherents.

(Outside the courtroom, White’s antifascist girlfriend wondered aloud how that could be enforced since she lives with him in Boyle Heights.)

Briggs, younger brother of San Diego attorney Cory Briggs, and Hamasaki, a former candidate for San Francisco district attorney, both said they sacrificed for their cases.

“There’s been nightly calls and tears,” Briggs said, who has an 8-year-old stepdaughter. “It’s been an incredible sacrifice, but my family supports the First Amendment. That’s why we took this case. We believe in Jeremy White and so it was a family decision to get involved in this case and we don’t regret it. We’re just sad about the verdict.”

Said Hamasaki: “This is week number seven away from my practice, my family, my friends, my life. So obviously it’s been a huge sacrifice to come down here and try this case.

“But again, I think it was an important case and I think it was meaningful. And so sometimes you have to make some compromises in life to do the things that you think are right.”

A woman who appeared to be in her 40s was the presiding juror and told the court five separate ballots were taken on all charges. On the last ballot, the jury couldn’t be unanimous on nine charges. Her breakdown on Lightfoot’s counts:

• Count 2: 7-5 favoring guilty
• Count 3: 7-5 favoring guilty
• Count 4: 7-5 favoring guilty
• Count 5: 11-1 favoring guilty
• Count 10: 7-5 favoring guilty
• Count 11: 10-2 favoring not guilty
• Count 12: 11-1 favoring not guilty
• Count 13: 7-5 favoring guilty
• Count 14: 6-6 split on guilty/not guilty

Goldstein saluted the jury, portraying their service as part of democracy — with leaders deriving power from the consent of the governed.

He said TV pundits might have takes on other trials and members of the public might like or dislike their verdicts, but the jurors of Department 1901 were the experts.

“You were impartial judges of the facts and you did your job — and you all paid careful attention throughout the trial,” Goldstein said. “And for that I really want to thank. You proved once again that the jury system worked.”

Updated at 6:54 p.m. May 3, 2024