Sentences Handed Down for ‘Antifa’ Defendants in 2021 Pacific Beach Brawl with White Supremacists

Eight of eleven people indicted in connection with a 2021 Pacific Beach protest that turned violent received sentences Friday ranging from six months to two years in custody.

The defendants, described by prosecutors as self-identified anti-fascists, were charged with orchestrating a series of violent attacks on attendees of the Jan. 9, 2021, pro-Trump “Patriot March.”

The violence erupted three days after the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol during a period of “tremendous upheaval in our country,” San Diego Superior Court Judge Daniel Goldstein noted at Friday’s sentencing hearing.

Prosecutors contended the defendants converged on San Diego under the banner of antifa — which is a descriptor, not an organized group, despite claimes to the contrary — with plans to attack attendees of a march organized by white supremacist group Patriot March, and while clad in tactical gear proceeded to pepper spray, beat, throw objects at, and use Tasers on various people.

Two of the defendants were convicted by a jury of conspiracy to commit a riot, while the other nine defendants pleaded guilty to various crimes. Three of the defendants were sentenced prior to Friday.

One of the defendants, Jeremy White, said through his lawyer that he plans to appeal.

“I was asked to write a conciliatory statement about the so-called victims in this trial,” White said in a statement.

“Neo-Nazis, white supremacists and far right fascists who assembled here on that day to do violence upon your community.

“I stood with other brave individuals in an effort to protect you from this blight on our society, and I apologize for nothing.

One day they will come for you as well, as they have come for so many others.”

The case was believed to be the first criminal conspiracy prosecution in the country against anti-fascist protesters.

Goldstein said he was previously uncertain whether prosecutors could show that antifa exists in any organized form, but on Friday said that after seeing the evidence in the case, “I don’t have any question that this organization exists.”

Several defense attorneys said Friday that their clients were remorseful and had changed considerably in the more than three years since the protest. Many of the attorneys told Goldstein their clients had cut ties with those they previously associated with in political spheres, and argued that they took part in the Jan. 9 activities out of a need to belong or feel like part of a greater cause.

Attorneys for the two men who went to trial argued previously that their clients reacted in self-defense to threats of violence from armed members of the right-wing contingent and that they recognized some people in the pro- Trump crowd were members of radical right-wing groups known to commit violence at protests.

But Goldstein said the violence was one-sided.

“At the very core of this case, 11 antifa members sought through the use of violence to crush the First Amendment rights of others who had assembled peacefully,” the judge said. “I don’t doubt for any minute that the Trump supporters were offensive to the defendants or others in Pacific Beach that day, but that’s the nature of political speech. It does not mean individuals can’t assemble, congregate, and protest…You cannot use force to oppress another’s speech. Our nation has continually supported speech at the cost of hurt feelings and offensive words.”

In a statement released after the sentencing hearing, San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan said, “From the start this prosecution has been about holding individuals accountable for conspiring to bring violence to our community, something we won’t tolerate.”

City News Service contributed to this report.