Each day, we’ll have the latest news from the courtroom in the Sines v. Kessler Unite the Right trial. For coverage from previous days, check the list of links at the bottom of this page.
With a jury finally seated, opening statements began Thursday in Sines v. Kessler, the lawsuit filed by nine locals against organizers of the 2017 Unite the Right rally.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys laid out their case that the two dozen defendants conspired to commit violence when they came to Charlottesville. The defendants’ attorneys—and two defendants who are representing themselves—contended that the case was an issue of free speech, and no matter how hate-filled their speech is, it’s protected.
Before the lawyers started talking, Judge Norman Moon instructed the jury on conspiracy, which he said is an unlawful partnership among those who have an unlawful objective—even if they don’t know each other. “By its very nature, conspiracy is clandestine and covert,” he said. Plaintiffs may use circumstantial evidence, he added.
It was an emotional day for the plaintiffs, who were in the federal courtroom for the first time since the trial began Monday.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Karen Dunn played videos from the tiki-torch march through UVA grounds on August 11, when the ralliers chanted “Jews will not replace us.” She also showed footage of James Fields accelerating his Dodge Challenger into a crowd of counterprotesters. Initially the sound wasn’t working, and she called for a pause. “We think it’s important that the jury be able to hear as well as see,” she said. (The press was unable to see anything from the video feed during the plaintiffs’ opening.)
Dunn promised the jury they’d see lots of evidence, and indeed, the plaintiffs’ attorneys have filed a 54-page list of the exhibits they plan to introduce, and have named 31 witnesses.
She showed a message alt-right leader Richard Spencer wrote: “We have entered a world of political violence.” Organizer Jason Kessler wrote to Spencer, “We’re raising an army my liege, for freedom of speech and the cracking of heads if necessary.”
And then there’s the cache of documents Unicorn Riot leaked from Discord’s Charlottesville 2.0 server, with chat rooms where many of the defendants planned Unite the Right. They discussed using shields, pepper spray, and flagpoles as weapons with “plausible deniability,” she said. They called pepper spray “gas.” Dunn warned the jury that “gas the kikes” was something it would hear a lot in this case.
“The defendants never expected their planning to see the light of day—or the inside of a courtroom,” said Dunn.
Attorney Roberta Kaplan told the jury what the plaintiffs were doing that weekend. UVA students Natalie Romero and Devin Willis, then 20 and 18, joined the 30 or so students August 11 at the Thomas Jefferson statue. They heard the chants, they saw the Rotunda lit up by torch light, and they were terrified, said Kaplan. The students linked arms and were surrounded by hundreds of neo-Nazis, who screamed at them, pepper sprayed them, and kicked them. “Devin thought he was literally going to die,” she said.
On August 12, Romero and Willis headed to Emancipation Park (now Market Street Park), and were sprayed and assaulted once again, said Kaplan. Romero was thrown on the hood of a car. “Tragically that was not the only contact Natalie had with a car that day.”
Many of the plaintiffs joined a celebratory group marching down Water Street. Chelsea Alvarado was beating a large blue drum strapped across her chest. April Muniz wanted to document what was happening. Marcus Martin and his fiancee Marissa Blair marched with their friend Heather Heyer. Thomas Baker had recently moved to Charlottesville and wanted to show support for his new community.
Martin, Romero, Alvarado, and Baker were all hit by Fields’ car. Kaplan showed an image of Alvarado’s drum near Romero’s blood.
Martin’s shoe came off and was lodged in the grill of the Charger. “These are the shoes,” said Kaplan, holding them up. “Shoes are stronger than human body parts.”
She said, “The evidence you see will be overwhelming. By the end of trial it will be clear the defendants conspired to commit violence.”
Not surprisingly, the defense disagreed.
Attorney James Kolenich, who represents Kessler, Nathan Damigo, and Identity Evropa, told the jury that antifa, who don’t like Kessler, fascists, and neo-Nazis, were a big part of the case. “No one likes fascists or Nazis,” he acknowledged. “In many cases the defendants aren’t likable people.”
Kessler, he said, “did not know someone would come from out of town with a car.”
Spencer, who was seen coming into court with a stuffed animal he called his “emotional support animal,” is representing himself. He stressed that he was an invited guest to the Unite the Right rally and had no hand in the planning. Some of the evidence, he conceded, such as a racist rant he made after the rally, would be embarrassing. ”I said things that were shameful and that I might never live down.”
He invoked retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and poet Robert Burns, and was interrupted three times by Moon, who told him to stick to the facts and not get into arguments.
Radical Agenda podcaster Chris “Crying Nazi” Cantwell, the other pro se defendant, urged Republicans to “stop fearing accusations of racism,” mentioned Mein Kampf, and disputed that all men are created equally.
“Tell the jury about your defense,” instructed Moon.
Cantwell told the jury that he’s an entertainer and he’d like to make the plaintiffs laugh. He said he was fired from a broadcast job for using the n-word. “My mouth gets me in trouble.” He is in jail now because he “threatened a Nazi who threatened a woman I wanted to marry.” He informed jurors three times that he is smart.
With a bit of prescience, Cantwell said he wore a body camera to the Unite the Right rally because he knew if he went to court, “I’d be a profoundly unsympathetic defendant.”
He urged the jury to send a message to “violent communists” and said that “calling someone a racist isn’t an excuse to abuse the legal system and take a month out of your life.” The trial is scheduled to run four weeks.
Attorney Eddie ReBrook, who was taken to the emergency room earlier in the week, told the jury that he wasn’t going to try to humanize the defendants. “You won’t emerge from this trial liking the defendants.”
He represents the National Socialist Movement, its former head Jeff Schoep, and the Nationalist Front, and called his clients some of the most “notorious” in the case. They had nothing to do with the torch march or James Fields, he said, noting that it was better to keep Nazis out in the open.
Once again, Moon reminded him jurors must make a decision based on the evidence.
ReBrook told jurors, “Don’t let lawyers from out of state come down to violate the First Amendment.”
That drew a complaint from Kaplan, who is from New York.
ReBrook then quoted Nazi-killer Brad Pitt in Inglorious Basterds.
An exasperated Moon responded, “Mr. ReBrook, I don’t know why you don’t understand. Jurors only look at the evidence.” The ramifications of the trial have nothing to do with their verdict, nor is the court the place to send a message, said the judge.
Attorney Josh Smith, who represents Matthew Heimbach, Matthew Parrott, and the Traditionalist Worker Party, continued the argument that his clients were not involved in a conspiracy and that the case was a free speech issue. He said the defendants had a permit for the Unite the Right rally, while counterprotesters did not. “There’s no right to counterprotest,” he said.
“Counterprotesters do not need a permit to be there,” said Moon. “Other persons had a right to protest. I’ve ruled. It’s over. Move on to another matter.”
The trial continues Friday with the plaintiffs’ first witnesses.
Previous Sines v. Kessler coverage
Pre-trial: Their day in court: Major lawsuit against Unite the Right neo-Nazis heads to trial
Day one, 10/25: Trial kicks off with jury selection
Day two, 10/26: Desperately seeking jury
Day three, 10/27: Jury selection wraps up
Correction, 10/29: An earlier version misspelled Chelsea Alvarado’s name.