Suggesting that prosecutors were politically biased, a federal judge last week tossed charges against two alleged members of a white-supremacist group who were accused of inciting riots nearly seven years ago in Berkeley.
U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney said prosecutors acted unconstitutionally when they sought charges against Robert Rundo and Robert Boman under the federal Anti-Riot Act. In issuing his ruling, the judge criticized prosecutors for appearing to ignore the alleged wrongdoings of Antifia and far-left groups during protests that erupted in April 2017.
“While the allegations against Defendants may well be true, defendants offer considerable evidence that members of Antifa and related far-left groups did the same, if not worse, at those same political rallies,” Carney wrote in his ruling.
He specifically noted concerns about left-leaning protesters injuring innocent civilians, adding that “such selective prosecution leaves the troubling impression that the government believes speech on the left more deserving of protection than speech on the right.”
Rundo and Boman were indicted in 2018 with multiple charges, including conspiracy to riot, in a series of clashes across California a year earlier.
The violent encounters included dueling protests between supporters of then-President Donald Trump and others at a “Patriots Day” in April 2017 in Berkeley. Among the groups allegedly involved in the clashes was the Rise Above Movement, which federal prosecutors say has espoused a white supremacist ideology and was co-founded by Rundo.
Carney’s ruling on Wednesday touched off a flurry of legal motions after Rundo was temporarily released from custody. Federal prosecutors — who were concerned that Rundo may flee the country and had already traveled near the Mexico border — successfully argued to have him once again arrested while the appeals process plays out.
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