Army Veteran With Cotati Roots Faces Trial Over "Spokane 9" Protest: Report

ROHNERT PARK-COTATI, CA — Federal prosecutors are pressing a case that could test the scope of conspiracy law's reach into protest activity, as a former Army veteran prepares for trial over an anti-ICE demonstration that blocked an immigration transport and triggered a broader federal crackdown.

The case against Bajun Mavalwalla II, one of the remaining "Spokane 9" refusing a plea deal, is expected to shape similar prosecutions of immigration protesters nationwide.

In May, a federal jury will decide whether Mavalwalla, a 36-year-old from Petaluma and Cotati, crossed from protest to criminal conspiracy.

The case has drawn national attention amid his father’s congressional campaign and claims of politically-motivated crackdowns on dissent.

Federal prosecutors allege the nine protesters turned a June 11, 2025, demonstration in Spokane, Wash., into a coordinated effort using Facebook to stop immigration detainees from being transported.

Federal prosecutors claim that protesters struck an officer, slashed van tires with a boxcutter, and ignored orders to leave until police used crowd-control measures and a SWAT team cleared the site.

Acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie Van Marter said that while peaceful protest is protected, violence and destruction will be prosecuted.

Defense lawyers cast the protest as nonviolent civil disobedience and argue that the government is overreaching, stretching a century-old federal conspiracy statute far beyond its intended use.

They have argued, according to reports, that much of the conduct described in the indictment falls under constitutionally protected political expression and that the governnment prosecution is characterizing nonviolent civil disobedience as force, intimidation, or threat.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pennell set trial for May 18 after rejecting the defense's efforts to dismiss the indictment, ruling that jurors — not the court — should decide whether answering a Facebook call to action can amount to conspiracy, according to reports.

The case has drawn attention well beyond Spokane. When the FBI arrested on conspiracy charges for his role the protest, Mavalwalla became the first American to face those charges in connection with the protests.

According to reports, the Justice Department used the prosecution as a model for later cases involving anti-ICE demonstrations, while a Reuters report said the department circulated guidance urging U.S. attorneys nationwide to prioritize such prosecutions.

Each defendant faced up to six years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. Six defendants accepted plea deals. Mavalwalla and two others opted for a trial.

The right to protest is “supposed to be fundamentally American”, Mavalwalla told The Guardian.

In Afghanistan, Mavalwalla walked foot patrols as US army sergeant in the Horn of Panjwai, the birthplace of the Taliban and one of the most dangerous parts of the country's Kandahar province, the Guardian reported.

Like his son, the 61-year-old Bajun Mavalwalla is a military veteran — the two served in Afghanistan.

Now, during his campaign for Washington’s 5th Congressional District, the father has publicly criticized "Spokane 9" prosecution as an attack on dissent.

He claims his son never met or communicated with other co-defendants. He also told the Press Democrat that he understands the decision of other defendents to take a plea deal in the face of an unprecedented, frightening situation.