A Texas jury has acquitted five pro-Trump activists but found one liable in a civil trial over the 2020 besieging of a Joe Biden campaign bus on a highway.
The bus drivers accused the six defendants of violating state and federal laws used to combat the white supremacist group, the Ku Klux Klan.
After a two-week trial, a jury awarded Eleazar Cisneros $40,000 (£30,000) in damages for conspiring to intimidate and undermine the campaign.
However, co-defendants Steven and Randy Ce, Jolynn and Robert Meszaros, and Dolores Park were found not liable.
John Paredes, co-counsel in the case, said the verdict is “particularly important in today’s politically tense climate and sends a strong message to Americans that anyone who engages in political intimidation or acts of violence in this or any other election will be held accountable.”
But the trial’s outcome was also welcomed by five acquitted Texas residents who have long maintained the case was politically motivated.
Co-defendant Mrs Meszaros told reporters outside court that she and her husband “felt like caged zoo animals, misunderstood and mistreated, and we want to feel like normal people again.”
About four years ago, the six defendants were part of the so-called “Trump train,” a group of supporters of the Republican candidate in their cars that swarmed Biden’s campaign bus as it was traveling on Interstate 35.
Video footage of the incident shows roughly 30 cars and trucks taking up all lanes of traffic, blocking traffic and surrounding the bus, forcing it to slow down slowly before the driver, Timothy Holloway, suddenly swerves out of his lane to pass the bus.
Holloway and two passengers – former Biden campaign staffer David Gins and former Democratic state senator Wendy Davis – filed a lawsuit in 2021, claiming it was an act of political violence.
The incident, which resulted in at least one collision, led to the cancellation of three Biden events planned for the region. Trump posted on social media, “I love Texas!” and praised those involved at the time.
Lawyers in the case cited potential violations of Texas laws regarding civil assault and civil conspiracy, but also invoked the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 to “reaffirm that threats, intimidation and violence have no place in American politics.”
Prosecutors have invoked a long-unused federal law in recent years amid growing political polarization, and Monday’s ruling marks the first to hold a defendant responsible in the modern era.
Trump supporters have acknowledged taking part in the Trump Train and similar motorcades but have denied planning the events in advance or intending to harm those on the buses.
But jurors were presented with evidence that Cisneros, a U.S. Navy veteran, came up with the idea to “escort” the bus.
The seven-judge panel ruled that the defendants must pay $30,000 in damages to the three plaintiffs and a further $10,000 to the driver, Mr Holloway.
Cisneros’ lawyer said he plans to appeal.
Last year, two of the original co-defendants in the case privately settled the allegations and publicly apologized.
The city of San Marcos also paid $175,000 to plaintiffs last year after local police failed to assist them despite repeated requests for police escorts from 911.
