The government chose what it considered its strongest hand for the first trial in November 2017: six defendants including a journalist, a medic, and a legal observer, tried on the full felony slate. Prosecutors showed hours of video proving windows had been broken by someone — and virtually nothing connecting these defendants to any act beyond presence. The centerpiece evidence included undercover video from Project Veritas, the right-wing sting outfit, whose selective editing the defense exposed on cross-examination.
On December 21, 2017, the jury acquitted all six defendants on all counts — a total repudiation, jurors telling reporters the government had never shown individual guilt. The verdict cracked the prosecution's premise: if the state could not convict its best cases, the collective-liability theory could not survive contact with juries. Weeks later prosecutors dropped charges against 129 defendants in a single filing, retreating to a "core" group they still insisted they would convict.