Judge says prosecutors pick on far-right protesters, sentences alleged supremacist to time served

Tyler Laube of Redondo Beach walks to the Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse in Santa Ana on Thursday. In a sentencing memorandum distributed at Laube’s hearing, Carney, a George W. Bush appointee, again criticized the prosecution of only Rise Above members, “ignoring individuals associated with Antifa and related far-left groups.” “Sentencing Mr. Laube to additional incarceration would only increase the disparity between his punishment and the lack of punishment members of far-left groups who have committed the same violent conduct received,” Carney wrote in his memo. “No doubt, the government and others will object to the Court’s sentence, focusing entirely on Mr. Laube’s past white supremacist beliefs and ignoring the violent conduct of Antifa and similar groups.” In court, Laube, dressed in a blue suit and black Vans, told the judge he was “very troubled” in his younger years. In his sentencing memo, Carney said that, from Laube’s perspective, the journalist — who was wearing a black cap and jacket — “was dressed like a member of Antifa.” Laube was originally charged and arrested in October 2018, along with Rundo and Boman, for violating federal conspiracy and riots statutes. Laube pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy in 2018, but the next year he successfully requested to withdraw from the guilty plea and have the charges against him dismissed after Carney’s ruling that the Anti-Riot Act was “unconstitutionally over-broad” in the case against Rundo.