Jury acquits most defendants in Trump train trial

An Austin jury has cleared all but one of six Donald Trump supporters who were charged with violating federal law when they surrounded a Joe Biden campaign bus driving down a Texas highway days earlier by the 2020 elections.

The seven-person jury, which deliberated for most of the month, said only one of the defendants, Eliazar Cisneros, violated the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 when the so-called Trump Train — a nickname for caravans to -showing his support for the former president. — drove up to the bus as it traveled north on Interstate 35 between San Antonio and Austin on Oct. 30, 2020. The group, which included dozens of vehicles on the highway that day, forced the bus to slow to a crawl.

Cisneros was ordered to pay $30,000 in punitive damages to the plaintiffs and $10,000 in compensatory damages to the bus driver, Timothy Holloway. Cisneros’ attorney asked the judge to vacate the decision after it was announced. If the judge rules against Cisneros, he can appeal the jury’s decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Both plaintiffs and defendants hailed Monday’s verdict as a victory.

“Praise God,” defendant Steve Ceh told reporters outside the courtroom.

Joeylynn Mesaros, another defendant, said she felt vindicated after what she saw as a lawsuit brought by a group of Democrats trying to silence the speech of those with whom they disagree.

“Given how the odds were intentionally stacked against us and the trial was rigged, I was refreshed that the jury was still able to get through this,” Mesaros said. Her attorney said they will file a motion to have their attorneys’ fees covered by the plaintiffs, who estimate she and her husband Robert Mesaros, another defendant, have spent between $200,000 and $300,000 on the case.

Outside court, the plaintiffs and their attorneys also said they were pleased with the jury’s decision.

“Each of us really had only one interest at heart, and that was to make sure that in the next election, people understand that it’s not acceptable to intimidate, harass and threaten people who want nothing more than to express their right to – supports his candidate. of their choice,” said former state Sen. Wendy Davis, who was one of the plaintiffs.

Christina Beeler, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project who helped represent the plaintiffs, said she was pleased the jury awarded punitive damages, which sends “a message to the public that threats, intimidation and violence do not happen in American elections.” .

“Today’s verdict is a win for our clients and it’s a win for American democracy,” she added.

Holloway, Davis and another bus passenger, former Biden campaign staffer David Gins, sued several members of Trump’s 2021 motorcade, accusing them of engaging in a conspiracy to disrupt the campaign, violating Ku Klux Klan Law. The incident prompted the Biden campaign to cancel campaign stops in San Marcos and Austin.

For the past two weeks, the plaintiffs’ lawyers have tried to convince the jury that the six defendants who were part of the Trump Train willingly tried to intimidate those on the bus.

“To dangerously surround someone on the freeway, anyone, a Republican, Democrat, anyone on the freeway and force them out of town is not okay, it has no place in Texas, it has no place in America, and it has consequences,” attorney Samuel Hall told jurors during opening statements in the trial.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys had to prove that the defendants were part of a conspiracy to prevent one or more people from showing support or advocating for a candidate for federal office. They still had to prove that the defendants’ actions harmed the plaintiffs. The three plaintiffs said the incident on I-35 caused them emotional distress, gave them anxiety, depression or insomnia and made it difficult for them to perform some of their duties at work.

Throughout the trial, the defendants and their lawyers insisted there was no conspiracy. Although they all attended Trump Trains before the 2020 election, they did not know each other before or during the incident and had no intention of threatening, intimidating or harming those on the Biden bus that day, they said.

Erin Mersino, the attorney for defendant Dolores Park, told jurors during closing arguments that Park’s behavior on the day of the incident may have been “strange,” but he did not break the law.

“It might not be pleasant. Perhaps not her proudest moment. But it is not a violation of the Ku Klux Klan Act,” she said.

But the plaintiffs said the way Trump supporters’ vehicles surrounded the bus — slowing it to 15 miles per hour on I-35 while drivers honked at them — made them feel like they were being “held hostage.”

“I didn’t know who they were or what they might be capable of,” Davis testified at the start of the trial.

Jerad Najvar, an attorney for Joeylynn and Robert Mesaros, told The Texas Tribune that his clients have waited three years to put the events of Oct. 30 into context, adding that the entire situation has been “taken out of context and frozen discourse.”

The Mesaros began attending Trump Trains in New Braunfels as a way to show their support for Trump, they testified during the trial. The New Braunfels Trump trains were organized by two other defendants, Steve and Randi Ceh. Cisneros and Park also participated in the Alamo City Trump Train many times before the election.

Two other defendants named in the original complaint settled their cases last year. The terms were not made public, but they issued a public apology for their involvement.

“Looking back, I would have done things differently. I don’t feel like I was thinking straight at the time and I apologize to the bus occupants for my role in the actions that day that scared or intimidated them,” Hannah Ceh, the daughter of defendants Randi and Steve Ceh, wrote in her apology.

The plaintiffs also filed a second lawsuit against San Marcos police, accusing law enforcement of turning a blind eye to the attack. The city settled with the plaintiffs last fall. As part of the agreement, San Marcos police officers and professional staff must receive training on responding to political violence and voter intimidation and ways to build community trust. The city paid $175,000 to four plaintiffs.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/09/23/texas-trump-train-verdict/.

The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, member-supported newsroom that informs and engages Texans in state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

Photo: Former state Sen. Wendy Davis and bus driver Tim Holloway arrive at the U.S. Federal Courthouse for the “Trump Train” trial in downtown Austin on September 12, 2024. Credit: Jay Janner/American-Statesman/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images via REUTERS