When Needlepoint Can Get You Life In Jail: 3 Crucial Things To Know About “Material Support”

She sewed a bag. For the prosecution, that is enough to put her in prison until she dies.

The bag was a “Faraday bag”: a specialized pouch lined with conductive materials to block wireless signals. They are ubiquitously available online. They are also, according to a Texas appellate court, the entire basis for a terrorism charge against Janette Marie Goering.

Note that she was not accused of firing any weapon, participating in the attack, or helping to conceal anyone afterwards. She was merely accused of handing over one bag “at some point prior to the attack that eventually helped conceal the alleged shooter’s cell phone signal.” For “aiding in the commission of terrorism,” she may face fifteen years to life.

Welcome to “material support”: one of the most powerful, and least understood, tools in the US government’s counterterrorism arsenal. To minimize your legal risk, it is crucial to screen your counterparties against both watchlists and the media.

1. “Material” can seem trivial
   
   In ordinary English, “material support or resources” sounds like significant support. Federal statute means almost the opposite: “any property, tangible or intangible, or service.” (Note, this same definition applies to foreign terrorist organizations; we reported on this risk HERE.)
   
   The term “material” refers to the nature of the support, and not the quantity. There is no de minimis exception or exception for seemingly benign support.
   
   The statute lists examples: currency, financial services, lodging, training, expert advice or assistance, safehouses, false documentation, communications equipment, facilities, weapons, explosives, personnel, and transportation. However, courts have held that the list above is not exhaustive.
   
   
2. “Support” and “Resources” can seem negligible
   
   Courts have found material support in:
   
   
   • Donating waterproof socks, ponchos, and raincoats;
   • Providing oneself as personnel, including by offering to be “on call” and giving private phone numbers; and
   • Moderating an online chat channel.
     
     
3. Good intentions are irrelevant
   
   Good motives are not a defense. Quite the contrary: the Supreme Court has held that specific intent to further terrorist activity is not required. It is enough that the person knowingly provides support to a group while knowing of its terrorist character. The government may prosecute training, expert advice, personnel, and services to a terrorist group “even if those providing the support mean to promote only the group’s nonviolent ends.”

How sewing leads to sentencing

On July 4, 2025, armed individuals breached an ICE detention facility near Alvarado, Texas. They fired fireworks at the building, vandalized structures and cameras, and shot a responding officer, who recovered. Together, fifteen defendants were sentenced to a combined 556 years in prison.

A separate defendant initially mentioned above was charged under Texas statute despite tenuous connections to the crimes. She was not accused of providing weapons, participating in the attack, committing any violence, or hiding anyone afterwards. She merely provided a Faraday bag, either the night before or at a sewing workshop months earlier. 

Texas’s aiding-terrorism statute does not care. It has no penalty range of its own; it carries the same penalty level as the terrorism offense being aided. In other words, the person who allegedly sewed a pouch is exposed to a sentence designed for the person who allegedly pulled a trigger.

Conclusion

National press coverage has reported extraordinary prison terms handed down to defendants in this matter. This, however, appears to be the “new normal” for US prosecutions of those it deems “terrorists.” (In this case, the organization was deemed to be linked with Antifa, which was designated as a “domestic terrorist organization” on September 22, 2025…2 ½ months after the incident took place.)

For businesses and individuals, the practical takeaways are simple:

• Do not in any way engage with parties on any US watchlist (e.g., Treasury, State, etc.)
• Be cautious when engaging with politically sensitive organizations, in particular non-profit organizations publicly criticized by public officials or otherwise noticed in the media.
• When engaging in political protest, be cautious about coordinating with others or providing support.

Coordinating with, or lending a hand to, a group the government has branded a terrorist organization, can carry a sentence measured in decades.