Texas Trial

• Anthony OdiongはWacoにおいて、精神的に脆弱な3人の女性信者への性的虐待の疑いで告発されています。 • Texasで、精神的に脆弱な3人の女性信者を性的虐待したという刑事告発に基づく刑事裁判がこの聖職者に迫る中、New Orleans archdioceseが、彼が市外に建設を支援した礼拝堂からこの司祭の名前を削除する計画を進めていることがGuardianの取材で明らかになりました。 • Anthony Odiongは、以前奉職していたTexasで当局から刑事告訴される数年前の2020年、隣接する教会の主任司祭を務めていた際に、Luling, LouisianaにあるOur Lady of Guadalupe Healing Chapelを建設し開堂するために60万ドルを調達したと報じられています。

Prosecutors say Anthony Odiong exploited his parishioners’ emotional dependency to engage in sexual conduct with themA Roman Catholic priest with ties to Texas and south-east Louisiana and criminally charged with abusing his position as a clergyman to pursue sex with three spiritually vulnerable female congregants faces being taken to trial on all of those cases at once.The Texas district attorney’s office prosecuting Anthony Odiong filed a motion seeking to consolidate the three cases in late March, ahead of a trial date that the Guardian understands has tentatively been set for 4 May. Prepared by McLennan county first assistant district attorney Ryan Calvert, the motion notes that Texas state law allows “a defendant [to] be prosecuted in a single criminal action” if the crimes alleged “are connected or … are the repeated commission of the same or similar offenses”. Continue reading...

• A federal jury in Texas convicted eight anti-ICE protesters on terrorism charges Friday, marking the first successful terrorism prosecution against activists by the Justice Department. • Federal prosecutors accused the protesters of being members of antifa in connection with a reported shooting during a demonstration outside the Prairieland ICE jail in Alvarado last year. • The conviction has raised concerns about the Trump administration's intensifying crackdown on activists and First Amendment rights, with the DFW Support Committee calling it "a sham trial, built on political persecution and ideological attacks."

• A federal jury in Texas convicted eight anti-ICE protesters on terrorism charges Friday in a closely watched trial that has raised concerns about the Trump administration's expanding crackdown on activist speech. • The convictions represent an intensified prosecutorial approach against immigration enforcement protesters, raising questions about First Amendment protections for demonstration activity. • The case has drawn criticism from civil liberties advocates warning of an erosion of protest rights under the current administration's enforcement posture.