CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The federal government wants to send a Charlotte ICE protester to prison — at least for a weekend.

A jury last month found William Donovan Stanley committed three petty offenses when he blocked the entrance of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office that was serving as a hub for agents who came to the city under Trump administration’s “Operation Charlotte’s Web” in November.

Ahead of Stanley’s sentencing Thursday morning, U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson’s office filed documents recommending a judge sentence the 26-year-old to “one weekend” or 48 hours. Even that is too much, Stanley’s attorneys rebutted in court documents.

Bystander video from Nov. 16 shows Stanley moved when ICE officers asked him to but then ran back in front of one of the officer’s moving cars and put his hands on the hood. Video also showed ICE officer Jason Rajabi ran up behind him, said “come here motherf—er” and picked him up. Stanley and his co-defendant, Heather Morrow, were each charged with misdemeanor assault on a federal officer and three petty offenses: obstructing entrances on a federal property, impeding officers and failing to comply with official commands.

Several U.S. citizens in Charlotte faced similar federal assault charges while following and documenting agents arresting people in immigrant communities, in public, in country clubs and in apartment complexes last year. Ferguson’s office dropped all those cases — except Morrow and Stanley’s.

After seeing the video and hearing testimony during a three-day trial in early September, a federal jury acquitted Stanley of the highest misdemeanor charge but found him guilty of the petty crimes. Each of those is punishable by a maximum of one month in prison.

Assistant U.S. attorneys Kenneth Smith and Caryn Finley said in court documents that two days is reasonable and warranted in this case and pointed to other antiwar protesters who were sentenced to a range of five days to 30 days for similar actions. As an alternative to jail time, the federal prosecutors suggested a year of probation, 100 hours of community service and a $1,000 fine.

Stanley’s attorneys say he shouldn’t have any time in jail and are asking for three months probation and a $500 fine.

“Stanley got up early on a Sunday morning in November 2025, to protest the actions by ICE officers involved in the Charlotte’s Web Operation,” his attorney wrote in recent court documents. “He deeply cared about the arrests of members of the immigrant community and wanted to let ICE know he felt their actions were unfair by protesting ... While things got out of hand that morning, that was never his intent.”

His crimes were not a result of criminal intent or selfish motives, attorney Claire Rauscher said, but rather “the consequence of protesting what was happening to other human beings in our community.”

Rauscher reiterated arguments used during trial: that the charges “were the result of the escalation by deportation officers at a peaceful protest,” and that “the protestors sought to engage in a dialogue that the officers did not want to have.”

Stanley’s co-defendant, unsuccessful county commissioner candidate and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools bus driver Heather Morrow, was found guilty of the petty offenses and the misdemeanor assault charge. Her sentencing date has not yet been set.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Orso, appointed by President Donald Trump, will sentence both of them.

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