There was a protest turned riot in San Diego back in 2021. On one side were Trump supporters and on the other side were counter-protesters, some of them associated with antifa. I wrote about the indictments in this case here. The case has dragged on since then but last month two of the anitfa supporters who had traveled in from Los Angeles were convicted of conspiracy to riot:

After more than seven days of deliberations that followed a three-week trial, a San Diego jury on Friday convicted two Los Angeles-area men of conspiracy to riot as part of the first-ever prosecution alleging a criminal conspiracy by antifa...

Prosecutors alleged that Lightfoot and White were self-described anti-fascists who showed up prepared to attack their political enemies at a Jan. 9, 2021, “Patriot March” in Pacific Beach organized by supporters of then-outgoing President Donald Trump. Defense attorneys told the jurors their clients were there to counter-protest the march — which took place just three days after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol — and that any violence they might have participated in was self-defense against provocateurs and armed members of the pro-Trump group...

Neither man reacted when the verdicts were read. White faces up to two years in custody, and Lightfoot faces a maximum sentence of five years and four months in prison.

Nine co-defendants in the case previously pleaded guilty to various charges. Some have been sentenced to prison. Others will be sentenced later this year along with White and Lightfoot.

White had gone to the event dressed as what he would later describe as an "Antifa Super Soldier," i.e. he was wearing body armor from head to toe.

According to detective Clark, suspect Jeremy Jonathan White was easy to follow in evidence video because he is 6 foot 2 inches tall and 225 pounds and he wore a unique costume.

White had “not an inch of skin showing,” the detective said. Clark described White as dressed from “head to toe in body armor” and wearing a gas mask over a black balaclava. White had MEDIC patches and a red cross symbol on his chest and arms and backpack, Clark said.

There were large canisters of bear mace attached to White’s tactical vest, the detective said, and the bear spray used by Antifa is ten times more potent than the pepper spray used by San Diego police...

The day before Thanksgiving, on November 24, 2021, White sent this message from his phone to two people: “I kinda sorta dressed in a bulletproof Antifa super soldier outfit and fought the cops and white supremacists during the lockdown.”

White was initially charged with animal abuse because he used his bear spray on a dog during the San Diego rally. That charge was later dropped.

White and his attorney really went all out to prevent a conviction. At one point in March, years into his case, he introduced an insanity plea.

It took several requests, however, before Jeremy Jonathan White finally uttered what Goldstein called “the magic words”: I plead not guilty by reason of insanity.

That defense is a result of an assessment of White by Dr. Martin Williams, a Briggs-paid psychologist who found that White “disassociated” during a counterprotest incident — basically blanking out...

Goldstein ultimately agreed to let White plead insanity, saying: “Whether I think it’s baloney or not, there are legal steps we go through.”

White acknowledged that he understood an insanity finding could lead to his spending life in a mental facility.

Today, Andy Ngo reports that White has announced he is non-binary just prior to his sentencing.

"This weekend I came out as non-binary to my friends and received the most loving support I could have possibly imagined," White wrote on Instagram on June 18. "Please do what you can to be there for your queer, non-binary and trans comrades." Accompanying the long statement was a photo of White without his beard and wearing an anti-law enforcement hat...

White's sudden claim of being trans non-binary raises questions about whether it is a cynical move for him to be able to request special accommodation away from the general male prison population if he is incarcerated. In California, men who identify as trans are able to request housing among the women's estate.

This is reminiscent of the case of Hannah Tubbs who was treated as a minor in a case of molesting a 10-year-old when he was 2 weeks shy of his 18th birthday. After being arrested, Tubbs announced he was trans. But some jailhouse recordings suggested this was gamesmanship on his part.

LISTEN: In another in-custody phone call, transgender child molester Hannah Tubbs instructs family to say “her” in court because “we’re trying to avoid the whole [sex offender] registering thing”, & “we’re also trying to avoid prison again.” Tubbs avoided both under @GeorgeGascon pic.twitter.com/Sniw4rUPBs

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) February 21, 2022

We won't have long to wait to find out if White's announcement has any impact on his sentence. His sentencing, along with several other antifa defendants, is set for this Friday, June 28. Here's an image of White before and after his announcement. 

𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗡𝗴𝗼 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁: Ahead of sentencing, a violent So Cal Antifa felony convict has suddenly announced he is trans nonbinary after shaving. The announcement may be a cynical move by Jeremy White to request prison accommodation away from men. Read: https://t.co/QyA7S4ayjY

— Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) June 25, 2024