Judge says prosecutors pick on far-right protesters, sentences alleged supremacist to time served
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a man linked to a Southern California white supremacist group to time served after he admitted to punching a journalist at a pro-Trump rally in 2017.
U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney on Thursday sentenced Tyler Laube to time served, totaling 35 days he had spent in pretrial custody.
Prosecutors had recommended a six-month sentence.
Laube pleaded guilty last year to a misdemeanor charge for repeatedly punching a journalist — identified only as F.T. — who was covering the Huntington Beach rally.
In his plea agreement, Laube admitted to associating with members of the Rise Above Movement, which represented itself as a “combat-ready, militant group of a new nationalist white supremacy and identity movement.”
The group was accused of inciting brawls at political rallies throughout the state in 2017.
Laube pleaded guilty to interfering with the journalist’s federally protected rights without causing injury.
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Carney earlier this year dismissed criminal charges against two accused members of the Rise Above Movement, his second time doing so in five years. The judge ruled that Robert Rundo and Robert Boman were being selectively prosecuted, while “far-left extremist groups” were not.
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 (and prosecution) 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.
“Looking for guidance, looking to be a part of something,” he said. “That’s why I got involved in this thing to begin with.”
In his decision, a judge agreed that the alleged white nationalists were being selectively prosecuted instead of ‘far-left extremist groups, such as Antifa.’
The Rise Above Movement reportedly sprang up in late 2016, casting itself on social media as an alt-right fight club. RAM regularly held hand-to-hand and other combat training for members and associates “to prepare to engage in violent confrontations” at political rallies, according to the plea agreement.
Laube admitted to attending a combat training event in San Clemente on March 15, 2017. Later that month, on March 25, Laube, who was on probation for an armed robbery, and several other RAM members attended the Huntington Beach rally, organized by Trump supporters.
During an ensuing riot, Laube “intentionally and willfully intimidated and interfered with F.T. by punching him several times in the head and body, but without causing bodily injury,” according to the plea agreement.
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.
A federal indictment alleged that various RAM members participated in attacks at political rallies in Huntington Beach; in Berkeley on April 15, 2017; and in San Bernardino on June 10, 2017. Afterward, they allegedly trained for future events and celebrated by posting photos online of RAM members assaulting people.
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.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, however, reinstated the charges in March 2021, finding that parts of the law were constitutional. Last year, Laube pleaded guilty again.
Even before 2017, Laube had a history of run-ins with the law, including a second-degree robbery conviction after he and a friend used a semiautomatic handgun to rob a 7-Eleven convenience store and a gas station, according to the prosecutor’s sentencing memo. He was also convicted of possession of a switchblade and resisting arrest, all based on separate incidents, prosecutors said. Each time, he was sentenced to a term of probation, “which he repeatedly violated.”
Laube declined to comment outside the courtroom Thursday.
“Justice was served today,” said Laube’s attorney, John McNicholas.
Rundo was accused not just of organizing the violent confrontations but also of attacking protesters and police officers. After Rundo was ordered by police to stop attacking a “defenseless person” during the Berkeley protest, he allegedly punched an officer twice in the head, according to an arrest warrant.
Rundo was extradited from Romania last year to face charges in the case that Carney dismissed in February.
Although Rundo was briefly released after the dismissal, he is back in custody as the government appeals Carney’s decision to the 9th Circuit.
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