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 end of the Sines v. Kessler trial is now in sight, as the defense rested its case on Wednesday morning. In the afternoon, the jury received lengthy instructions laying out the requirements to prove the lawsuit’s claim that defendants conspired to commit racially motivated violence at the Unite the Right rally in August 2017.
Attorney Bryan Jones, who represents League of the South, Michael Hill, and Michael Tubbs, called two witnesses to the stand on Wednesday morning. The first was Richard Hamblen, former leader of the Tennessee chapter of League of the South. Hamblen is not a defendant in the case and was involved in a scuffle on Market Street that immediately preceded the infamous attack on DeAndre Harris. Multiple white nationalists were convicted in that assault, and Harris was acquitted of charges that he assaulted Hamblen.
That didn’t stop Jones from pursuing a line of questions and presenting evidence that appeared aimed at creating a self-defense claim for his clients. He showed a video of a black-clad counterprotester who was wearing a helmet and punching Hamblen.
On cross-examination, an attorney for the plaintiffs challenged that narrative, citing a previous recorded statement by Hamblen to defendant Michael Hill.
“Don’t you say to Mr. Hill, ‘The sequence is, she came up behind me, grabbed at the flag, tearing the lower attachment loose. I lowered the staff, caught her in the ear hole of her helmet, and she spun around and attacked me,’” the attorney asked.
Jones’ second witness was Charlottesville Police Captain Tony Newberry, who testified only that he had contact with League of the South as the department prepared for the rally.
Pro se defendant Christopher Cantwell again created tension in the courtroom when he presented his case. Cantwell re-called two witnesses, plaintiffs Natalie Romero and Devin Willis. Both had previously testified about their trauma from the torchlight rally and their injuries on August 12. Romero suffered a fractured skull in James Fields’ car attack.
Cantwell appeared intent on undermining their testimony, and while showing Romero a slow-motion video of the melee around the Thomas Jefferson statue, he prompted an astonishing exchange.
With the video rolling, Romero appeared to realize it may have been Cantwell himself who struck her.
“Wait, did you punch me?” she exclaimed.
“You’re telling me that I punched you? Are you telling the jury I punched you?” Cantwell replied.
Romero responded, “I cannot confirm that, but if you play that again in slow motion…”
“Let’s try to figure out if I hit you, sound good?” Cantwell later said after pressing Romero on her use of the word “punch.”
His subsequent questions of Romero focused on whether she was carrying a green whistle that may have signified her affiliation with a counterprotesting group. Romero said she couldn’t recall after Cantwell showed a video still of her with a green whistle.
He also played video of the counterprotesters marching on Water Street before the car attack chanting “anti-fascista.”
While questioning Willis, Cantwell focused on Willis’ previous claim that the counterprotesters at the statue were UVA students. Circling counterprotesters on video stills, Cantwell asked Willis to identify several counterprotesters. Willis said he did not recognize them.
Cantwell asked Willis about his claim he’d seen people carrying handguns, and showed him an image of a counterprotester at the statue apparently wearing a holstered handgun on her hip.
Cantwell also appeared to unwittingly elicit new evidence that might not work in his favor.
“Do you remember seeing students torn down off the statue one by one and being beaten systematically?” Cantwell asked Willis.
“I remember one woman in a wheelchair being grabbed and pepper sprayed,” Willis responded.
“Do you know if there’s any video of the woman in the wheelchair being grabbed and pepper sprayed?” Cantwell responded.
The remainder of the day was spent finalizing jury instructions, including Judge Norman K. Moon reading 64 pages of instructions aloud to the jurors.
In order to find the defendants liable, the jury must prove that two or more individuals, motivated by animus against Black or Jewish people, conspired to deprive people to be free from the racially motivated violence.
Sanctions against two of the defendants, Elliott Kline and Robert “Azzmador” Ray, have already established they were engaged in such a conspiracy. The jury was instructed to apply that as fact only to the sanctioned defendants.
Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday.
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
Day 10, 11/5: League of the South takes the stand
Day 11, 11/8: “It gave me Nazi vibes”
Day 12, 11/9: False flags and missing evidence
Day 13, 11/10: “It was awful”
Day 14, 11/11: White supremacy 101
Day 15, 11/12: Sines speaks, defendant dances
Day 16, 11/15: Kessler vs. Spencer
Day 17, 11/16: Every man for himself