An Orange County federal judge has dismissed criminal charges for the second time in five years against accused members of a Southern California white nationalist group suspected of inciting brawls at political rallies throughout the state.
U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney on Wednesday dismissed charges against Robert Rundo — who was extradited from Romania last year — and Robert Boman, from Torrance.
Rundo is alleged to be a founding member of Rise Above Movement, or RAM, a white supremacist group that, according to a federal indictment, touted itself as a “combat-ready, militant group of a new nationalist white supremacy and identity movement.” Boman was also an alleged member of the group.
In his decision, Carney granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss, agreeing that Rundo and Boman were being selectively prosecuted instead of “far-left extremist groups, such as Antifa.”
“Prosecuting only members of the far right and ignoring members of the far left leads to the troubling conclusion that the government believes it is permissible to physically assault and injure Trump supporters to silence speech,” Carney wrote in his order.
“There seems to be little doubt that Defendants, or at least some members of RAM, engaged in criminal violence. But they cannot be selected for prosecution because of their repugnant speech and beliefs over those who committed the same violence with the goal of disrupting political events.”
Boman was already out on bond, while Rundo was still being detained. Prosecutors on Wednesday requested that Rundo remain in custody pending the government’s appeal, which Carney denied.
“I don’t believe it’s warranted that Mr. Rundo spend one minute more in custody, so I’m going to release him forthwith,” Carney said. “I feel very comfortable in the decision I’ve made.”
Soon after the ruling, the government filed a notice that it would appeal.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, which prosecuted the case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The federal indictment against Rundo alleged he and other defendants recruited new members to the organization, coordinated training in hand-to-hand combat, and traveled to political rallies to attack protesters at events across California.
Rundo is accused not just of organizing the violent confrontations, but also attacking protesters and police officers. After Rundo was ordered by police to stop attacking a person during an April 15, 2017, protest in Berkeley, he allegedly punched an officer twice in the head, according to an arrest warrant.
Rundo, believed to be the leader of the group, was originally charged and arrested in October 2018 with two other alleged members, Boman and Tyler Laube.
Carney had previously dismissed charges in the case in 2019, after Rundo’s attorneys argued that the federal Anti-Riot Act of 1968 was “unconstitutionally over-broad.”
A federal appeals court, however, reinstated the charges in March 2021, finding that parts of the law were, in fact, constitutional, thus landing it back before Carney.
After charges were reinstated in a superseding indictment filed in January, Rundo eluded authorities, traveling through Europe but continuing to post images on social media, Bellingcat reported.
Times staff writer Salvador Hernandez contributed to this report.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
