Autumn Hill Is Appealing 50 Years of Collective Punishment
Nationwide HBTW Fund is mobilizing legal defense, prison support, family assistance and public pressure for the trans woman acquitted of every attempted-murder and firearm charge.
In July 2026, Autumn Hill filed notice that she would appeal her convictions to the Fifth Circuit. That begins the next legal stage but does not remove her 50-year sentence or the dangers she carries while imprisoned. Most coverage stopped at sentencing, leaving the woman beneath that punishment to disappear behind the number. Nationwide HBTW Fund is entering where that coverage ended, connecting Autumn’s continuing case to legal support, survival resources, family assistance and public pressure.
Chief U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor imposed the sentence on June 23, 2026, after Autumn was convicted on charges arising from a July 4, 2025 anti-ICE demonstration outside the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. Participants described the protest as an act of solidarity with immigrants detained inside, but gunfire later erupted and an Alvarado police officer was wounded. The jury acquitted Autumn of the attempted-murder charges and every firearm charge. Benjamin Song was the only defendant convicted of attempted murder and firing at the responding officer. Autumn was instead convicted of rioting, providing material support to terrorists, conspiring to use or carry an explosive, and using or carrying an explosive—a charge tied to fireworks used during the demonstration.
O’Connor ordered consecutive terms on those four convictions, producing half a century of imprisonment. The Justice Department used the conduct of the group to drive Autumn’s punishment even after the jury rejected the charges connecting her to the shooting. At sentencing, O’Connor declared that the defendants’ planning and conduct led to the attempted murder committed by someone else. The result was a life-consuming punishment against a woman the jury did not convict of shooting or attempting to kill anyone. Her appeal now places those convictions and that sentence before the Fifth Circuit.
Autumn is carrying the consequences as a trans woman who has been held in men’s facilities, where confinement exposes her to sexual violence and abuse. Her placement, safety, gender-affirming medical care and outside contact are part of what surviving this sentence demands. Imprisonment has also separated Autumn from Lydia Koza, whom she married only months before her arrest. Lydia has described the sentencing as a decision to ruin the lives of the defendants, their families, loved ones and communities. That damage reaches into their marriage through restricted communication, travel and visit expenses, court-related costs, household disruption and decades apart.
Nationwide is building one support structure around those connected consequences. Legal resources must sustain Autumn’s appeal and protect her rights and safety, while commissary and communication support help maintain daily necessities and outside contact. Support for Lydia must help carry the material costs of visits, court proceedings, separation and advocacy. Nationwide protests, rallies and public education must keep pressure on the Justice Department, the federal courts and the prison system. Continuing reporting must document changes in Autumn’s case, confinement and treatment so fundraising produces both immediate support and an expanding public record.
Autumn’s appeal has begun, her sentence remains active, and every transfer, filing and confinement decision can alter her life. Nationwide will connect those developments to resources, organized resistance and accountability. Autumn is still here, Lydia is still carrying this separation, and the government’s attempt to take the rest of Autumn’s life is being challenged now.
Stand behind Autumn Hill. The first payment from each of the first 100 new paid subscriptions generated through this report will go toward her legal defense and continuing support.