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.
The white nationalists who marched through the city on August 11 and 12, 2017 shouted, chanted, and screamed their hateful rhetoric. Now, those same people are defendants in the Sines v. Kessler case, and are on trial this month for conspiring to commit racially motivated violence that weekend. The tone in court has been mostly calm and professional, in jarring juxtaposition to some of the chilling testimony offered on Friday.
“One hundred and nine times in the history of the world, the Jew has been banished from our midst. Lord, we ask that you make 110 come soon for our southland,” said League of the South founder and defendant Michael Hill in a video played for the jury. In the video, Hill, an adverse witness for the plaintiffs, calls the Holocaust “that hoax that the Jew has been perpetrating for 80 years now,” before he burns the Israeli flag, a copy of the Talmud, and The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx.
“Good morning Dr. Hill,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Alan Levine politely as Hill took the stand. Levine then conducted questioning in which Hill confirmed his hatred of Jews and people of color. Hill, previously a history professor at historically Black Stillman College, founded League of the South in 1994 and resigned from the university in 1998, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups and individuals around the country.
Levine presented video of Hill and his LOS deputy Michael Tubbs charging through a line of counterprotesters on Market Street on August 12, and video of LOS members knocking a female counterprotester to the ground and pepper spraying her. Levine also questioned Hill about his role in helping to organize the rally.
“I did speak with Mr. Duke, and I put him in contact with Mr. Kessler and they made the arrangements,” Hill said of David Duke, the infamous white supremacist, longtime KKK leader, and one-time candidate for the U.S. Senate in Louisiana. Duke was present at the Unite the Right rally, and spoke briefly in McIntire Park after the rally was officially canceled.
Hill testified that League of the South had something in common with the other groups coming to Charlottesville for the rally that weekend
“They share the same common enemy,” Hill said.
“Enemies included the Jew, correct,” Levine asked.
“As far as I could tell,” Hill replied.
Levine played audio of Hill gushing about the success of the rally, and presented Hill’s post-UTR tweets, including one in which Hill wrote, “James Fields did nothing wrong.”
Friday’s testimony also included an account from plaintiff Thomas Baker, who went to downtown Charlottesville on August 12, 2017, against the wishes of his wife. “When you know something is right, and you might be fearful to stand up for it, that’s the time you need to,” Baker said. “It was incredibly important to me, because of some fear, to be present.”
Baker, who had just moved to Charlottesville at the time and was working as a horticulturist, was struck and badly injured during James Fields’ fatal car attack. He testified that he suffered torn ligaments in his hip that required surgery to repair months later. He has permanent physical limitations as a result of his injuries and suffers from PTSD.
“If someone drops a book, it throws your brain back into that exact moment. It’s incredibly paralyzing,” said Baker.
Pro se defendant Christopher Cantwell, who formerly hosted a white nationlist podcast, pressed Baker on his testimony that he counterprotested the rally because he “knew that the people who were coming had a history of violence.”
“Groups like the KKK,” Baker answered. “But I wouldn’t have known the specifics of these details, because these groups and individuals conspired to do this.”
“Disregard the last two sentences of the witness,” presiding Judge Norman Moon ruled in response to a defense objection.
“Is it your testimony that Jason Kessler had a history of racist and antisemitic violence?” Cantwell asked.
“Violence, I don’t know, but rhetoric and instigation,” Baker replied.
“We’re in a courtroom, so specifics would be nice,” Cantwell countered sarcastically, prompting an objection from the plaintiffs’ counsel that was sustained by Moon.
The trial is scheduled to last through Nov. 19. Concerned about the slow pace of the trial, plaintiffs’ attorneys have asked the defense team to estimate how many days they’ll require for evidence. Their answer is due on Monday.
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
Day four, 10/28: Plaintiffs and defendants make their opening arguments
Day five, 10/29: “I hear it in my nightmares,” says plaintiff Romero
Day six, 11/1: “I stopped being an outgoing, sociable person,” says plaintiff Willis
Day seven, 11/2: “Strike that”
Day eight, 11/3: Defendants fawn over Hitler
Day nine, 11/4: Quibbling about hate