The men behind the Charlottesville rally that lead to violence and death have been found financially liable by a jury in Virginia.
A jury in Virginia has found a group of white nationalists who organized the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville liable of engaging in a conspiracy ahead of the violent demonstration, awarding the plaintiffs who brought the case more than $25 million in damages.
But after three days of deliberation, jurors could not reach a verdict on two federal conspiracy charges over whether organizers conspired to commit racially motivated violence or whether they had knowledge of it and failed to prevent it. Both felonies fall under a federal civil statute known as the KKK Act.
Richard Spencer, Jason Kessler and Christopher Cantwell and other white supremacists and neo-Nazis, were order to pay the nine plaintiffs in the civil trial millions in compensatory and punitive damages for physical and emotional injuries.
The plaintiffs — all residents or former residents of Charlottesville — sued a group of two dozen white nationalist activists and organizations in federal court. They alleged that the organizers and participants of the rally conspired to commit violence and interfered with their 13th Amendment right to be free from racially-motivated violence.
Over the course of the two-day rally in August 2017, neo-Nazi James Fields Jr. drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing Heather Heyer, 32, and injuring dozens of others. Four of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit say they were hit in the car attack, while others say they continue to suffer from deep psychological distress from the incident.
Almost half of the damages awarded by the jury was against Fields, who is now serving a life sentence for murder. He was among those named in the lawsuit as defendants. Kessler, a main organizer of the rally, was also named. Other well-known white nationalists and white supremacists including Spencer, Cantwell, Andrew Anglin, Matthew Heimbach and others were also named as defendants.
The nonprofit Integrity First for America backed the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs alleged that the nighttime march, where some 300 white supremacists held lit torches, was meant to evoke fear similar to Ku Klux Klan and Nazi marches. At one point, white supremacists encircled counterprotesters and some clashes occurred. Some of the plaintiffs were present and say they were terrified for their lives.
The Charlottesville residents sought $7-10 million in damages, while others involved asked for $3-5 million.
The defendants tried to distance themselves from Fields in testimony, and said they engaged in violence only when they were attacked.
I’m sure it will be reduced on appeal.Report
Half of it is against Fields, who has been in prison since he was 20 and had/has too many mental disorders to list. His job before that was a security guard where he earned $10.50 an hour. Pretty heinous guy ideologically and various other ways but whatever.
He well deserves a very large fine but will never be able to pay it.
Other than that I can’t tell who did what and how much they need to pay.Report
In order to get an appeal, you need to put up a bond of the damages. I’m not sure that the defendants have the assets to do so. This is largely a symbolic victory.Report
Future assets are also at risk, yes? And who knows how much idiots might donate over a period of years to a GoFundMe?
I read today that there will likely be a whole set of lawsuits over who gets Rittenhouse’s $2M cash bail now that it’s going to be returned. Kyle’s lawyers say it belongs to Kyle, period. One of the fundraisers seems to be saying a bunch of it belongs to the fundraiser, for repurposing. And yet another says it ought to go back to the individual donors, minus a nominal fee for arranging that.Report
Hopefully not too symbolic, lest the next Spencer simply ensures he has no assets to risk.Report
Isn’t the overall idea here that Spencer expected violence because his crew would meet counter protesters at some point? Or maybe that the narrative would inspire Fields?
I haven’t done a deep dive on this one (so can be off on the facts) but I can think of other protests turned violent which we-society probably doesn’t want to hold the organizers liable.Report
The bond requirement can be waived upon a showing of good cause, no?Report
I remark in passing that this is a strange use of the phrase “Over the course”. At least, I had not previously heard that Fields spent more than a little time driving into a crowd.Report
Those counterprotesters had no business being there.Report
What demonstration doesn’t have them? This is a very strange assertion.Report
He’s pointing out that the big argument against Rittenhouse was he had no business being there. Ergo he had no right to self defense and could just be attacked and killed by the first guy (who was seriously heinous).Report
I suppose that’s a fair critique as the general discourse goes; I wish that the OP had been more explicit about it.
This then opens the door to compare-and-contrast arguments to determine whether the throwback is a legitimate critique. How are the situations alike, how are they different?
I think they’re materially different because I don’t think the Charlottesville counterprotestors went there not-so-secretly hoping to find themselves in a situation where they could use deadly violence against those with whom they disagreed politically, nor were they assuming the role of vigilantes. I’ve indicated in other fora here on this website that I think Rittenhouse’s self-defense claim was likely legally valid despite its morally dubious circumstances; I don’t see similarly morally dubious behavior on the part of Charlottesville counterprotestors.Report
Rights should never be diminished nor penalized due to people not liking the people exercising said rights.
Seeing “counter-protesters” attack legitimate speakers, no matter what one thinks of their speech, being rewarded in cases like this is rank, and shameful in the first degree.Report
These kids today!
Why, back when men were mensch they knew how to counter-protest the alt-right!
Lansky rounded up some of his tough associates and went around New York disrupting Nazi meetings. Young Jews not connected to him or the rackets also volunteered to help, and Lansky and others taught them how to use their fists and handle themselves in a fight. Lansky’s crews worked very professionally. Nazi arms, legs, and ribs were broken and skulls cracked, but no one died. The attacks continued for more than a year. And Lansky earned quite a reputation for doing this work.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/gangsters-vs-nazisReport
I think we don’t know Rittenhouse’s political views. He’s made statements supporting BLM (much to their annoyance).
Both the Left and Right want him as a symbol, but that doesn’t mean anything. He attempted to flee from every encounter and could reasonable have been there purely to help make sure his father’s city didn’t burn down.Report