Trial Begins for One of the Tarrant 2

Tarrant County, Texas – the trial against Raunaq Alam, one of the Tarrant 2, began in a court packed with supporters for the young activist on Monday (9/8), following jury selection. The extreme backwardness of Texas politics was on display in both the maneuverings of the prosecution and in regard to what the judge would allow the jury to hear.

What began as a criminal mischief charge, a misdemeanor in the state of Texas, was enhanced to felony hate crimes charges—carrying up to ten years—based solely on the political position of the accused. “The government has manufactured a felony on a graffiti case because they hate his opinions.” Adwoa Asante, Alam’s attorney said.

The state called to the stand Brad Carignan, Lead Pastor of Uncommon Church, the non-denominational Christian Church where the alleged vandalism took place. The judge did not allow the jury to hear, however, that Carignan’s brother-in-law is a veteran commander in the Israeli Defense Forces. The defense was not allowed to question Carignan on the atrocities committed against the people of Gaza by Israel during the genocide, nor his numerous trips to Israel. Carignan was himself free to try to convince the jury that he was simply moved by the deaths which occurred on October 7, 2023.

When the defense pointed out that graffiti did not target the Jewish faith and only specified Israel, Carignan repeated the old rotten catch phrase that “the country of Israel is the Jewish homeland.”

According to Carignan’s biography on the website of his church, he and his wife “…love spending time in Israel. The Carignan’s have lived and ministered in Israel, Wales, and all over the USA.” Josie Carignan, Brad Carignan’s wife, is also a Lead Pastor at their Church, and her brother directly participates in the genocide of Palestinians. She has a website of her own, which states that she “is also a wholehearted supporter of the nation of Israel and often advocates for the Jewish people. Brad and Josie lived in Israel for several years, and continue to travel there often, taking tours, solidarity trips and supporting ministries in the land of Israel.”

At jury selection, prosecutors removed potential jurors who believed it was possible to criticize a country without criticizing its people. According to the indictment, the “victim” was “selected” “because of the defendant’s bias or prejudice against a group identified by national origin and/or ancestry, and/or religion, namely, the state of Israel or the Jewish faith.” Thus far, the state’s witness, Pastor Carignan, only provided religious and not legal arguments to support the state’s narrative.

The defense highlights that the case is important for political expression, exposing the prosecution attempts to name the state of Israel (the apartheid occupation of Palestine), as the victim of a local criminal case, distorting hate crimes laws to punish political expression. “I think protest graffiti, that sort of thing is the language of folks who are unheard, and so, my heart goes out to them.” Alison Grinter, the attorney for Afsheen Khan, the other of the Tarrant 2, told monopoly media. Khan’s trial is set for September 30.

Supporters of the Tarrant 2 across the country are mobilizing in a campaign to drop the charges. This demand is echoed by the Council for American-Islamic Relations.

Second Day of Trial

In a previous article published on The Worker, the campaign was called the “Tarrant 3” and it is now two. The name change came after one of the defendants, Julia Venzor, “has agreed to testify about her role in the events of that evening”, according to monopoly media outlet ABC.

Venzor, a 25-year-old mother, who was originally part of the support campaign, testified against Alam as a state’s witness on the second day of the trial. The prosecution provided a plea bargain to Venzor, with five years felony probation in exchange for her testimony. Resolving first time offenses with probation is a common practice, even without cooperation with the sate.

It became clear during the proceedings that Venzor’s children were being used as leverage to compel testimony, showing how the state of Texas is fully prepared to use threats against young children in their efforts to stop support for the Palestinian people and break resistance to genocide. On cross examination the defense attorney questioned Venzor: “You don’t want to be away from your children, and if convicted you could possibly face prison time”, to which a demoralized Venzor replied “yes.” The defense continued, “if you knew you were not risking not seeing your children, would you have taken the deal?” to which Venzor replied “no.”

Throughout her testimony Venzor resisted the idea that the vandalism constituted a hate crime. She took the stand against Alam Tuesday morning (9/9) and plead guilty to the criminal mischief charge and true to the hate crime enhancement nonetheless, according to the state prosecutor. Venzor helped the state in implicating her co-defendants in the act of vandalism with use of a video recording but insisted that “it was an act of protest” and would not agree that it was out of hate for Jewish people. “It was not about Jews”, she said.

The prosecution spared no expense by bringing in Professor Zachary Braiterman of Syracuse University, located on the other side of the country, to provide expert testimony: “To me, this is a degree of verbal and ideational violence that makes me shudder and actually terrifies me,” the Zionist told the court. According to Braiterman, antisemitism and opposition to Zionism are “so closely connected you can’t separate it.” Braiterman, unsurprisingly engaged in genocide denial on the stand.

In an effort to sour the jury and riding high on Trump’s recent executive order, the state showed a video of Alam’s birthday party where he, along with comrades including his co-defendant and Venzor, burned US and Israeli flags. The defense highlighted that this too is constitutionally protected speech. According to the state, the burning of the Israeli flag proves “bigoted motives.”

Alam’s trial is set to continue Wednesday morning, while Khan’s is to begin September 30.

The Worker calls on our readers to donate to the legal fund of the Tarrant 2, with links to the funds here and here, and to support all calls to action issued on their behalf, including packing the court.

Image: The Tarrant 2, design by The Worker.

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