Biography
Zachary Evetts is one of nine defendants convicted by a federal jury on March 13, 2026 in the Prairieland Detention Center case. On June 23, 2026 he was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison (plus 2 years of supervised release).
On July 4, 2025, a group of demonstrators gathered outside the Prairieland Detention Center, an ICE detention facility in Alvarado, Texas. During the protest, fireworks were set off and an Alvarado police officer was shot and wounded. Federal prosecutors charged the participants as members of a "North Texas Antifa Cell" — the first time the Department of Justice has brought terrorism-related charges in connection with alleged antifa activity. After a 12-day federal trial in Fort Worth, a jury returned guilty verdicts on March 13, 2026. Sentencing took place on June 23, 2026.
Sources
- Prairieland defendants — June 23 sentencing court notes
- Prairieland defendants — July 1 sentencing court notes
- Associated Press — June 23 sentences
- Associated Press — July 1 sentences
The January 2026 Prairieland support update reports that Judge Mark Pittman fined each of Evetts’s three defense attorneys $500 over omission of a prosecution email from a discovery motion. Those financial sanctions concerned the attorneys, not a sentence or fine imposed on Evetts. The support group’s criticism of the judge is attributed; the report does not establish a new period of imprisonment.
