About this episode
The episode discusses the Spokane 3 trial and its implications on free speech and protesting.
On this week’s episode, Erin Sellers and Aaron Hedge went on the air to dive deeper into the Spokane 3 trial, the jury verdict, and the implications of the trial on free speech and protesting. The “Spokane 3” – Jac Archer, Justice Forral and Bajun Mavalwalla II – were charged by the federal government with conspiracy to impede a federal officer by using threats, force or intimidation to stop ICE agents from discharging their duties. The alleged conspiracy charges come from last year’s June 11th protest, where people in the community tried to stop ICE from taking two detained young men – who were in the US legally – to the ICE detention facility in Tacoma. The trial began on Monday, May 18th and ended on Thursday, May 28th, where a predominantly white jury consisting mostly of people who don’t live in Spokane gave all three individuals guilty verdicts. However, this legal process is expected to last longer, as all three individuals filed Rule 29 motions in hopes of acquittal. They also talked about the jury trial for a Salvadoran man accused of assaulting an ICE officer during an arrest last summer in East Wenatchee. Find the stories they talked about (in order) below: The Trial…
People in this episode
Hosts: Erin Sellers, Aaron Hedge
Topics covered
- legal trial
- free speech
- protesting
- jury verdict
- community response
Keywords
- Spokane 3
- trial
- free speech
- protest
- jury verdict
- ICE
- community
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: The Trial of the Spokane 3: ‘The entire weight of the United States government’, A shocked city reckons with guilty verdict of Spokane 3, Tried for a second time
Places: Spokane, Tacoma, East Wenatchee
More episodes of RANGE
- Come on in, the water's (not) fine · June 12, 2026 · 54 min
- An overview of the Spokane 3 trial (so far) · May 22, 2026 · 55 min
- A rundown on the Spokane 3 trial · May 15, 2026 · 56 min
- “A river of news in a news desert” · May 8, 2026 · 54 min
- Bringing people together and taking care of each other · May 1, 2026 · 51 min
- Developments in Spokane’s federal conspiracy case · April 24, 2026 · 55 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the RANGE podcast page.