Tag: Corey Long

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In brief: Irruptive species, councilor liability, hazing incredulity and more

Clockwise from left: Siskin (Darren Swim). grosbeak (Dave Menke), red-breasted nuthatch (Wolfgang Wander) purple finch (dfaulder) from Wikimedia

New birds on the block

A red-breasted nuthatch in central Virginia? You gotta be kidding!

Turns out that an unusually large number of irruptive bird species—or species that normally breed in northern boreal forests and sometimes migrate south when their food supply runs out—are wintering in our neck of the woods this year, according to the Center for Urban Habitats. And you’d be doing yourself a favor by checking them out.

Ezra Staengl, a 15-year-old natural history writer and photographer at the organization who’s been watching closely, says there’s a pretty good chance you’ll see some of the boreal finches, such as purple finches and pine siskins, as well as red-breasted nuthatches.

And if you’d like to encourage a sighting, all three species will come to feeders with black-oil sunflower seeds—although the siskins have more of a taste for nyjer seeds, says Staengl. And the nuthatches can be found in almost any stand of pines.

Staengl has his sights set on spotting an evening grosbeak, which is possible, but would be even rarer because they’re much less common.

The same goes for other irruptive finches such as hoary redpolls, red- and white-winged crossbills, and pine grosbeaks—many of which moved south this winter, but not as far and in fewer numbers than the other species, he says.

The non-native finches will be visible until April, and maybe into May.

“Searching for irruptive finches is a great way to get outdoors and more in touch with the nature around you, as well as a way to learn more about how food fluctuations affect bird distribution,” adds Staengl, who is homeschooled in Nelson County, and has been birding for about six years. “Besides, no one can deny the adorableness of a red-breasted nuthatch or the beauty of an evening grosbeak.”

Quote of the week

“In 2017, 1,028 Virginians died of gun-related causes. That’s more deaths due to gun violence than the 956 Virginians who died due to vehicle accidents.”—Governor Ralph Northam in his State of the Commonwealth address January 9

In brief

Councilors liable

Judge Rick Moore ruled that the city councilors who voted to remove Confederate statues in 2017—Wes Bellamy, Bob Fenwick, Kathy Galvin, Mike Signer, and Kristin Szakos—are not protected by sovereign immunity and are individually liable for damages should the plaintiffs prevail in the lawsuit against the city, which contends that City Council violated state code when it voted to get rid of General Robert E. Lee.

Too studious

A judge rejected UVA’s motion to dismiss a suit filed by Sigma Lambda Upsilon January 8. The Latina sorority alleged its constitutional rights were violated when UVA suspended it for hazing in March 2018 because the student group requires pledges to study 25 hours a week. The suit names the Board of Visitors, including Rector Rusty Conner, and top administrative officials, including VP and Chief Student Affairs Officer Pat Lampkin.

Flamethrower fail

Corey Long, the man who was found guilty of disorderly conduct for pointing a makeshift flamethrower at a white supremacist on August 12, 2017, and who planned to challenge the conviction, has withdrawn his appeal. He’ll spend 10 weekend days in jail.

Corey Long (in red) outside court following his June 8 conviction. Eze Amos

Biggest bullies

A study by UVA’s Dewey Cornell and the University of Missouri finds higher rates of middle school bullying in areas that favored Donald Trump in the 2016 election. In spring 2017, students in pro-Trump regions reported 18 percent more bullying than those in areas Hillary Clinton carried, and 9 percent more teasing because of racial or ethnic background.

Once is enough

Norman Dill staff photo

Albemarle Supervisor Norman Dill, who was elected in 2015, will not seek another term on the board. At the supes’ first meeting of the year, they elected Ned Gallaway chair and Rick Randolph vice-chair.

Shutdown promo

Montpelier is offering free tours from January 14 to February 28 to federal employees and their families out of work because of the government shutdown. Bring your federal employee ID.

Homicide victim

Gerald Francis Jackson, 60, has been charged with second-degree murder in the January 10 slaying of 55-year-old Richard Wayne Edwards, who was found dead in his Cherry Street home.

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Paying the consequence: Activists fined $15 for late-night street protest

Veronica Fitzhugh was one of seven community activists arrested June 8 for protesting the day's earlier conviction of Corey Long. Photo by Eze Amos

When Corey Long was found guilty of disorderly conduct last month for pointing a homemade flamethrower at white supremacists on August 12, a slew of local activists who’ve dubbed him a “community defender” waited until the sun went down to take to the streets and protest his conviction.

In Charlottesville General District Court on July 19, seven of those activists were found guilty of stepping in the road with poor visibility and fined $15. (A number of those seven had already paid their fines and did not appear).

Around 9:30pm June 8, with signs and banners in tow, several dozen activists began marching around the Downtown Mall, chanting “Corey Long did nothing wrong” and “Cops and the Klan go hand in hand.” And it wasn’t long before things got more heated.

At the west end of the mall, their procession took a right onto Ridge-McIntire, where they began spilling off of the sidewalk and onto the street, and gained the attention of several city police officers.

The cops insisted they stay off the road, and by the time the group took another right onto Market Street, more than a dozen officers were following them. Crowds drew and traffic started backing up as the demonstrators continued to scream at the officers, demanding to know why law enforcement didn’t protect them during last summer’s deadly Unite the Right rally, and refusing to get out of the roadway.

It wasn’t long before the police started arresting them, and in one instance, they hauled activist Veronica Fitzhugh off a Market Street crosswalk and into the back of a paddywagon—her dress exposing her rear and her knees scraping the ground as they dragged her.

“We are, without a doubt, living in a historic moment,” said Sara Tansey, one of the community members charged. She read a statement to the judge on behalf of all of the defendants. “History has proven to us that some laws are bad laws, and some illegal actions will fall on the right side of history.”

Tansey continued, “We believe that when a black man is sentenced to jail time for defending himself against a mob of neo-Nazis, then we are in a moment that demands each member of society to question whether the law is just and whether our actions within the system will endure the test of time.”

Civil rights attorney Jeff Fogel represented the defendants, who each entered an Alford plea, which is not an admission of guilt, but an acknowledgement that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict them.

“I like the idea that if you have civil protests, that you’re willing to pay the consequences,” said visiting Judge Steve Helvin. “I’m certainly going to find y’all guilty.”

Defendants were ordered to pay $89 in court fees along with the $15 fine.

Outside the courthouse, Fogel said his clients were satisfied with the outcome.

“They didn’t want to make a big deal out of this,” he said.

Fogel, who was also present during the late-night protest in June, criticized police for insisting the activists stay on the sidewalk as they marched down Ridge-McIntire, where he says there was no traffic. “Police lose perspective of why they’re there.”

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In brief: Wes’ repulsion, Boots’ birthday, Corey’s alleged firing and more

Charlottesville Clerk of Court Llezelle Dugger swears in RaShall Brackney. Staff photo

New chief takes oath

As the city’s first-ever female police chief RaShall Brackney was sworn in June 18, she said we should all be saddened “in 2018, that my gender is a topic of conversation.”

The former George Washington University chief and Pittsburgh police commander of 35 years said on her first official day on the job, her priority is to meet with leaders of every shift at the Charlottesville Police Department. And then the obvious one: Come up with a plan for how to handle this summer’s anniversary of last August’s deadly Unite the Right rally.

Brackney only has two months to do so, and said she’s “up for the task.”

Hiring Brackney was one of Mayor Nikuyah Walker’s first major decisions.

“I’m really excited about today,” Walker said, because she believes Brackney will “bridge the divide that we currently have in our city between black citizens in low-income communities and law enforcement.”

As a female, multi-ethnic police officer who grew up as one of six children, sharing one bathroom with a family of eight, Brackney said she understands “feeling disenfranchised,” and later echoed, “I understand what it feels like to not be included.”

One of her top priorities since she’s been in law enforcement is reducing violence in African American communities, and Brackney said she’s “never disconnected from the communities from which [she’s] from.”

When asked what uniqueness she brings to Charlottesville, the new chief quipped, “besides being a Steelers fan?”

“You made several points, right, and one of the ones in which I feel is absolutely repulsive is the fact that you believe that an event like August 12, which was indeed very sad, traumatizing to our community, you say that it’s the worst thing to ever happen here in Charlottesville.”—City Councilor Wes Bellamy at the June 18 meeting, telling Pat Napoleon, who has called for councilors to resign, that he thinks slavery and lynching were worse.

Unwilling patient

“Jane Doe” is suing UVA Health System’s CEO and several medical practitioners for allegedly taking blood and urine samples and giving her medication against her will after a suicide attempt. She’s represented by local attorney Jeff Fogel, who is also alleging gross negligence, false imprisonment and assault and battery in his federal lawsuit.

The water’s not fine

Albemarle County officials and the local health department are encouraging Chris Greene Lake goers to “avoid water contact” at the beach, boat ramp and dog park, because of a toxic blue-green algae bloom that was caused by recent weather. People and pets will be prohibited from swimming there until further notice. High levels of algae closed the lake last summer, too.

University access

UVA students and visitors with limited mobility cannot currently traverse the entire Lawn. To make that possible, construction will begin on two brick wheelchair ramps this summer, though the project has been met with opposition from groups such as the Jeffersonian Grounds Initiative, which, according to the Daily Progress, said “ramps will protrude into the Lawn and do violence to [its] integrity.”

Boots’ 100th birthday

photo mo lowdon

Beloved UVA prof Ernest “Boots” Mead died four years ago. But that didn’t stop his former students, who have also established the Mead Endowment, from toasting his 100th birthday June 13 with celebrations across the country in D.C., New York, Richmond, San Francisco, Charlottesville—and Lander, Wyoming. Way to make an impression.

Missing millions

The Albemarle County School Board will no longer ask the Board of Supervisors for a November bond referendum, and has reduced its funding request from next year’s capital budget from over $50 million to $5.4 million. The money will go toward a 600-student learning center, a classroom addition and new gym for Scottsville Elementary School and renovations at a couple high schools—though completion costs for all three projects will be $81 million.

He said, she said

After the controversial conviction of Corey Long for pointing a homemade flamethrower at white supremacists on August 12, a tweet from activist group Solidarity Cville—which supported Long during his trial and demanded that the prosecutor drop the disorderly conduct charge—said Long had lost his job, and encouraged followers to send him a few bucks via PayPal.

“Community defender Corey Long was fired from his job because ‘they wouldn’t be able to hold his position for the duration of his incarceration,’” the June 13 tweet said. Against the prosecutor’s advice, a judge sentenced Long to 360 days in jail on June 8, with all but 20 days suspended. With good behavior, he’ll likely only serve 10 days, and they could be served on weekends.

Corey Long after his conviction for disorderly conduct June 8. Eze Amos

Solidarity Cville also tweeted a message from Long, who allegedly said, “It’s their loss, I was a good employee. But thanks for everything. Every bit helps!”

An anonymous caller told C-VILLE that Long worked at a Taco Bell in Gordonsville, stopped showing up a couple weeks before his conviction and was never fired.

According to corporate Taco Bell spokesperson Jacqueline Cisneros, the Gordonsville franchise said “team member” Long is still employed, and that it has reached out to him several times without any response. It is unclear whether Long was recently employed elsewhere.

Long did not respond to an interview request, but shared a Facebook post from Darnell Lamont Walker on June 15, which said, “Corey Long was just fired from his job,” and linked to Long’s PayPal account.

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Activists stop traffic, arrested in late night protest

Community activist Star Peterson, a victim of the August 12 car attack, was arrested when she parked her wheelchair in the middle of Market Street, faced traffic and threw two middle fingers into the air. Photo by Eze Amos

Last night, Charlottesville police arrested about eight community activists who were protesting yesterday’s conviction of Corey Long, the man they say defended the community on August 12 when law enforcement failed to do so.

A couple dozen activists gathered in Justice Park around 9:30pm, and with signs and banners in tow, began marching around the Downtown Mall, chanting “Corey Long did nothing wrong” and “Cops and the Klan go hand in hand.”

By the time they made it to the west end of the mall and turned right to march down Ridge McIntire Road, they had gained the attention of police in at least two vehicles and on two bikes. As some marchers spilled off the sidewalk and onto the street, police demanded they step back onto the sidewalk, nudging activist Nic McCarthy as he shouted, “Corey Long protected us! Where were you?”

Nic McCarthy. Photo by Eze Amos

McCarthy was one of the people arrested and escorted to the local jail, after their procession made it to Market Street, where they stopped traffic by, again, refusing to get out of the street.

Nearly 20 police officers were present on Market Street and the area was awash in blue and red police lights as cops and about 20 activists engaged in screaming matches. Approximately 15 other marchers immediately obeyed police and stepped out of the roadway.

Veronica Fitzhugh, a known community activist, was one who did not. She lay in the middle of a Market Street crosswalk until multiple police pulled her up from under her underarms and dragged her to one of their squad vans—her knees scraping the ground as they removed her from the street. Fitzhugh and McCarthy were also arrested for obstructing free passage at the July 8 Ku Klux Klan rally in Justice Park when they, along with several other protesters, locked arms in front of the gate that the Klan was planning to enter the park through.

Veronica Fitzhugh. Photo by Eze Amos

Police demanded that C-VILLE freelance photographer Eze Amos, who was documenting the protest and arrests, step out of the roadway. He argued that he was a journalist, and that pedestrians are allowed to walk in the crosswalk.

“I can take photos for God’s sake,” Amos said. “That’s my job.”

To that, the officer said Amos was not permitted to walk back and forth across the crosswalk while officers were arresting people there. Amos was not arrested.

Police also arrested Star Peterson, a victim of the August 12 car attack who parked her wheelchair in the middle of Market Street, facing traffic, and threw two middle fingers into the air. She was given a summons, and after eventually moving a bit further down the street, she did it again. This time, police wheeled her out of the street, and called an ambulance to haul her to jail.

Star Peterson. Photo by Eze Amos

As the remaining activists waited for the night to play out, one could be heard saying to the crowd, “Y’all want me to go to Lowe’s and get torches? They’ll let us march then.”

All activists who were taken to jail were released by 1am, according to The Daily Progress.

The other activists arrested were Eleanor Ruth Myer Sessoms, James Alan Swanson, Jenna Hochman and Keval Mandar Bhatt.

Photos by Eze Amos

Updated June 13 at 9:30am with a list of people who were arrested.

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August 12 flamethrower Corey Long to serve jail time for disorderly conduct

Corey Long, center, was convicted of disorderly conduct for pointing a homemade flamethrower at a white supremacist on August 12. Photo by Eze Amos

“It is what it is. It’s no sweat.”

That’s the statement Corey Long gave today outside the Charlottesville General District Courthouse after he was convicted of disorderly conduct for lighting an aerosol can and pointing it in the direction of white supremacists on August 12.

Community activists wiped tears from their eyes and hastily left the courthouse when Judge Robert Downer sentenced Long to 360 days in jail, with all but 20 suspended, after Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania advocated for no jail time.

“I find that this behavior was very serious,” Downer said when he went against the prosecutor’s recommendation.

After the conviction, Long’s legal adviser offered a few more words than his client.

“Corey Long was and is and remains a hero,” said Malik Shabazz, president of Black Lawyers for Justice, to cheers from the dozens of community activists who showed up in support of the 24-year-old who they say protected the town during the Unite the Right rally that left three people dead and many injured.

Shabazz echoed what the activists have been saying since his client was charged: “Corey Long did nothing wrong.”

He advised that in Virginia, inmates with good behavior only serve half of their sentenced time for misdemeanor charges, and said Long will likely be incarcerated for 10 days. Long was ordered to report to the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail on June 22.

Shabazz told Long they’ll be the “proudest days you will serve in your life,” and reminded him and the crowd that Martin Luther King Jr. was also arrested and convicted.

As white supremacists filed out of Emancipation Park on August 12, immediately after law enforcement had declared the Unite the Right rally an unlawful assembly, Frank Buck testified that he heard someone say, “Kill the nigger.” He then saw Baltimore Ku Klux Klan leader Richard Preston point his handgun at Long, who was outside of the park and holding the homemade flamethrower with his arm extended. Buck said the flames were first between 20 and 24 inches, and then a bit shorter.

“I thought [Long] was going to be shot and killed,” Buck said. “I then heard the gunshot.”

He says he saw the bullet hit the ground near Long’s feat, causing a tuft of dirt to shoot into the air. He then saw Preston lower his gun and exit the area.

“I lit the can because he wouldn’t get out of my presence,” Long told the judge, though it is unclear whether he was referring to Preston or another man who can be seen swinging a rolled up flag at Long in a photo of the incident that has since gone viral.

Richmond-based defense attorney Jeroyd Greene said Long had been spit on and called racial slurs that day, and that Long first sprayed his aerosol can without lighting it. He only lit it when he perceived a threat, which doesn’t make a case for disorderly conduct, the attorney argued.

In fact, Greene said two men, including Preston, who fell out of line with their white supremacist allies and moved toward Long once they walked down the steps at the park, were the true aggressors who acted disorderly.

“There’s no evidence that they’re doing anything at all but walking down the steps,” said Platania, who argued that lighting the aerosol can was enough of an “annoyance or alarm,” which is required to prove a disorderly conduct had been committed.

Downer said the state’s disorderly conduct statute is complicated and problematic, and in his 17 years of experience, he’s seen only a few people convicted of the crime.

“I don’t have the least bit of doubt of his guilt of disorderly conduct,” Downer said. “It clearly motivated people to react in a way that involved a breach of the peace.”

Preston pleaded no contest May 9 to a charge of discharging a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school, a class 4 felony that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years and fine up to $100,000.

Long was also accused of assault and battery by rally attendee Harold Crews in a separate incident, but Platania said he was unable to reach Crews, and the charge was dismissed.

In the crowd of activists outside the general district court was Kendall Bills, the daughter of local philanthropists Michael Bills and Sonja Smith, who was also involved in August 12 litigation after Dennis Mothersbaugh, whom she calls a “neo-Nazi,” punched her in the face during the rally.

The video of the Indiana man clocking her has also gone viral. Mothersbaugh pleaded guilty to assault in November.

“He was sentenced to a decent amount of jail time, but, more importantly, I was not subject to the intimidation and harassment that now men of color—especially DeAndre Harris, Corey Long and Donald Blakney—are facing in this community,” she said. “As a white woman, I was protected. My case was settled quickly.”

Bills said she took to the streets on August 12 to do exactly what those three black men did, which was “trying to protect and defend our community,” but she hasn’t faced the same “inappropropriate judicial harassment” and retribution the men continue to face in their personal lives.

“The city of Charlottesville should be ashamed today,” she said. “I am proud to be a Charlottesville community member many days, but today is not one of them.”

 

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Malicious wounding charge against ‘Boonie Hat’ goes to grand jury

Tyler Watkins Davis. Courtesy Charlottesville Police Department

A Florida man charged with malicious wounding in the August 12 Market Street Parking Garage attack on DeAndre Harris can thank the attorney of another man for his arrest—and for dubbing him “Boonie Hat.”

Tyler Watkins Davis, 50, of Middleburg, Florida, was in Charlottesville General District Court April 12 for a preliminary hearing, and his attorney argued Davis had been “overcharged” and that the single blow he struck against Harris did not rise to the level of malicious wounding. However, Judge Bob Downer found enough evidence to certify the felony charge to the grand jury.

The moniker “Boonie Hat” debuted in that same court December 14, when Blairs attorney Elmer Woodard, who represents Jacob Goodwin, who’s also charged in the garage brawl, played video of the assault and asked why police had not arrested the then-unknown man wearing a brimmed hat who could be seen striking Harris.

Charlottesville police Detective Declan Hickey testified that he hadn’t noticed Boonie Hat until Woodard pointed him out in December, and he started looking for him. Davis was arrested January 24.

Davis, a member of the neo-Confederate group League of the South, came to Charlottesville to the Unite the Right rally to exercise his political opinions, said his attorney, Matthew Engle. “Opinions I find offensive,” added the attorney. “He had a right to do that.”

Engle portrayed Harris and Corey Long, known from video footage with his homemade flame thrower that he deployed at Emancipation Park, as much more violent and provocative than his client. He said that while Davis was peacefully protesting, Harris burned a Confederate flag earlier that day.

Engle played a video in which he said “two incredibly stupid things happened”: Long attempted to grab a flag belonging to Harold Crews, the head of the North Carolina League of the South, and Harris inserted himself into that. According to Engle, Harris pretty much provoked the vicious attack that left him with a broken wrist and stapled-together scalp. Harris was found not guilty of assaulting Crews March 16.

The attorney also said that “it was irresponsible” to send Unite the Right protesters out of the park and into the street with counterprotesters. Davis walked up Market Street as the two groups sparred. Once in the parking garage, when Harris stumbled in front of him and Davis hit him with what was variously described as a stick or club, “it was not self-defense” but it did lack malice, said Engle, who pointed that Davis only hit Harris once, unlike others involved in the attack.

“He was responding to a threat that he perceived,” said Engle.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Nina Antony disagreed. “Mr. Davis struck an individual who was unarmed and on the ground,” she said. “That in and of itself is malice.”

Before his ruling, Downer noted, “This court has viewed so many videos from so many angles,” and some shown April 12 had not been shown in other preliminary hearings. There was “horrible behavior” on the part of many people, he observed.

He said he didn’t think Davis was justified in striking Harris. “I think it was malicious,” and he said he found probable cause to certify the charge to the grand jury.

Downer allowed a bond hearing for Davis. Attorney Bernadette Donovan said her client was 50 years old with “absolutely no record.” Davis was raised in Lynchburg, where he met the woman to whom he’s been married 25 years, she said. Davis was a service technician for Comcast, had passed a background check for his job that had him going into people’s homes, and he was the family’s main breadwinner.

Holly Davis testified that her husband was funny and honest.

Over the prosecution’s objection, Downer agreed to a $5,000 bond on the condition that the commonwealth’s attorney could vet a home electronic monitoring system first. If approved, Davis could only leave his house for work, medical appointments for himself or his son, court or to meet with his attorneys.

“We requested he sign a waiver of extradition,” says Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania.

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Not guilty: DeAndre Harris acquitted of August 12 assault

Dozens of community activists showed up in support for DeAndre Harris outside Charlottesville General District Court on March 15, the day before his trial, in which he was found not guilty of assaulting a white supremacist with a Maglite on August 12. Photo by Eze Amos

As DeAndre Harris’ attorney played video footage of a group of white supremacists beating him to the ground in the Market Street Parking Garage on August 12, Harris sank back in his chair and closed his eyes.

Today, he was on trial in Charlottesville General District Court for an encounter that happened just moments before the bloody beatdown, when he was walking down Market Street and testified that “everybody just stopped.”

Harris said he turned around to monitor the situation, and that’s when he says he witnessed League of the South member Harold Crews “driving his flag into Corey [Long].”

Long—who is now widely recognized as the tall, muscular black man who appears to be wielding a homemade flamethrower at a white supremacist in an August 12 photo that went viral—is one of a few people Harris attended the Unite the Right rally with. Harris said he had seen people using flagpoles as weapons throughout the day.

So when he saw the tip of one poking into his friend’s torso, that’s when he took a Maglite out of his backpack and swung it in the direction of the flagpole. His attorney, Rhonda Qualiana, said you could hear the flashlight hit the pole in the video.

Harris came to the rally carrying a bag full of water and a white towel to cover his face in the event that tear gas was dispersed, he testified. An unknown white man dressed in all black had handed him the Maglite and a face mask for protection just prior to the incident.

After he swung it, Crews—the North Carolina man who brought the assault charge against Harris—claimed he was struck on the left cheek, which left two abrasions.

While Judge Robert Downer said he believed Crews’ testimony, he said, “I cannot find beyond a reasonable doubt that [Harris] intended to hit Mr. Crews.”

And though the judge formerly instructed several rows of activists in the courtroom that outbursts were prohibited, they erupted in applause and whistles when he found Harris not guilty of the misdemeanor.

As part of a campaign community activists are calling “Drop the Charges,” members of groups such as Black Lives Matter, Congregate Charlottesville, Showing up for Racial Justice and Solidarity Cville have demanded that Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania acquit Harris, Long and another black man, Donald Blakney, from the charges they’ve faced as a result of protecting the community from neo-Nazis on August 12.

Outside the courtroom after the verdict—where, not long before, Unite the Right rally organizer Jason Kessler made his rounds through the screaming crowd, exchanging middle fingers with activists and filming a police officer who smacked his arm and caused him to drop and allegedly break his phone—activists chanted, “Being black is not a crime,” after the verdict.

Among a sea of signs in support of Harris, the 20-year-old who was working as a lead counselor at the local YMCA and a teacher’s aide at Venable Elementary School, one stood out: “Venable families stand with Dr. Dre.”

Quagliana said Harris would not be speaking to the media or the activists.

“Your enthusiasm and support has meant everything to DeAndre,” she said to the crowd of approximately 75 people. “It’s almost hard for me to not be emotional.”

The attorney said the day was also very emotional for her client, who has been searching for the woman who initially gave him aid on the steps of the NBC29 building where he lay after he was removed from the parking garage on August 12. Quagliana said he wants to thank her.

“DeAndre and his parents want peace in this community,” she added.

Black Lives Matter-Charlottesville organizer Lisa Woolfork said the acquittal of a victim whom white supremacists tried to turn into an assailant was a cause for celebration.

“Our community is much safer because of this verdict,” she said.

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August 12 shooter and Market Street Garage attackers go to grand jury

Imperial wizard Billy Snuffer came to court to support fellow Klansman Richard Preston, accused of firing a gun at Emancipation Park August 12. Daryl Davis has made it a mission to meet KKKers to find out why they hate him for the color of his skin. Eze Amos

Three out-of-towners who were charged following the August 12 Unite the Right rally were in court December 14 for preliminary hearings, where a judge determined there was probable cause to seek grand jury indictments.

Baltimore resident and Confederate White Knights of the KKK imperial wizard Richard Preston, 52, is charged with shooting a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school. Alex Michael Ramos, 34, from Jackson, Georgia, is charged with felonious assault, and Jacob Scott Goodwin, 23, from Ward, Arkansas, is charged with malicious wounding, both in the Market Street Garage beating of Deandre Harris.

The three men were in court the same day as the hearing for James Fields, the man accused of killing Heather Heyer when he drove into a crowd. The judge ordered increased security in the courtroom, and he warned that anyone making noise would be removed.

Fellow KKKers, including Billy Snuffer, imperial wizard of the Rebel Brigade Knights of the True Invisible Empire, showed up in support of Preston.

Preston’s attorney, Elmer Woodard, also represents Goodwin and “Crying Nazi” Chris Cantwell. The Danville attorney, known for his showmanship in his appearances here, was corrected twice on the pronunciation of the name of Commonwealth’s Attorney-elect Joe Platania.

Platania called one witness, attorney and former mayor Frank Buck, who was near the corner of Market and Second streets when the rally was declared an unlawful assembly and whites-righters streamed out of Emancipation Park.

Buck testified he saw Preston point his gun at Corey Long, who made a flamethrower from an aerosol can. “I heard the gun discharge,” he said, and he saw a puff in the mulch near Long’s feet.

ACLU video

He followed Preston at a distance, and then filed a complaint with a magistrate. “He fired a handgun in the midst of people,” said Buck. “That struck me as an unlawful discharge.”

Woodard, who brought an aerosol can that he shook in court, asked Buck why he didn’t file a complaint against Long.

At that point, Judge Bob Downer interrupted the attorney. “All we’re here for today is to determine whether a firearm was unlawfully fired within 1,000 feet of a school. You seem to quibble about the distance of the flamethrower.”

Widely circulated video shows Preston firing a Ruger SR9 in the direction of Long, who was subpoenaed by Woodard but did not appear in court.

Woodard produced four witnesses who testified Preston saved them from the flamethrower. “There was nowhere to go and I was getting ready to be burned alive,” said Glasgow resident Scott Woods.

Another witness was testifying to the proficiency of Preston’s shooting when Downer interrupted again and reminded the lawyer that the preliminary hearing was only to determine probable cause that Preston fired his gun in the vicinity of Park School.

Despite Woodard’s argument that Preston’s firing was justifiable, that he kept people from being burned and was a “hero,” Downer certified the charge to the grand jury, which indicted him December 18.

Jacob Goodwin, Alex Michael Ramos and Richard Preston were in court December 14 for August 12-related charges. Charlottesville police

Detective Declan Hickey described on the stand his investigation into the beating of Harris, and the identification of some of the men who allegedly took part in that, including Goodwin and Ramos.

Goodwin was arrested October 11, and Hickey pointed him out in a video wearing all black and carrying a shield. Goodwin’s attorney painted a picture of self-defense and said Harris “ran at this man. He had to defend himself.”

Woodard asked the detective why he didn’t arrest another man in the video, who was wearing a brimmed hat and whom Woodard dubbed “Boonie Hat.”

“What’s appalling,” he said, “is that the commonwealth didn’t know Boonie Hat existed.”

He had Goodwin stand up, and the lawyer kneed him in the buttocks, apparently to demonstrate the extent of Goodwin’s involvement, contending, “That’s not malicious wounding.”

Ramos’ attorney, Jake Joyce, argued his client’s involvement in the beating did not rise to malicious wounding. “It might be assault and battery,” he said.

Downer did not buy those arguments, and said under the standard of probable cause, there was enough evidence to certify the charges to the grand jury, which met December 18 and handed down indictments for the two men. As for Boonie Hat, the judge said he hoped police find him.

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KKK support group: Gun-firer and alleged Harris attackers remain in jail

KKK imperial wizard Richard Wilson Preston is charged with firing a gun August 12. ACLU video

A judge was unswayed hearing testimony from a man who first said he was threatened by the thrower of a C-VILLE Weekly box at the August 12 Unite the Right rally and who then fired his pistol to defend a man who was the target of a homemade flamethrower.

Richard Preston photo Charlottesville police

Baltimore resident Richard Wilson Preston Jr., 52, imperial wizard of the Confederate White Knights of the KKK, appeared in Charlottesville General District Court October 12 seeking bond. He was arrested August 26 for discharging a weapon within 1,000 feet of a school after video circulated of him firing the gun at the rally.

Preston was represented by Elmer Woodard, who is also the attorney for other white nationalists arrested in conjunction with the August 12 weekend and were in court October 13—Identity Evropa’s Nathan Damigo, Richard Spencer’s National Policy Institute cohort Evan McLaren and JonPaul Struys—as well as Chris Cantwell, aka the “Crying Nazi.”

Originally scheduled for a preliminary hearing, Preston first asked that it be continued, and then changed his mind the Saturday before, according to Woodard. The prosecution objected because Preston’s change of heart came about October 7 on a holiday weekend.

“You can’t have it both ways if you ask for a continuance,” said Judge Bob Downer, who rejected going forward with the preliminary hearing.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania also said he was not prepared for a bond hearing, but Downer agreed to hear testimony at the end of the day from the half dozen Preston Klan supporters who came to vouch that he’d show up in court if released.

Wearing a striped jail jumpsuit and ponytail, Preston told the judge that initially he’d been threatened with a C-VILLE Weekly box and pulled his pistol in that encounter, but the box was tossed in a different direction. Beside him, a man clad in black wearing shorts and a mask had what Preston described as a nail-spiked stick. “He said he was going to kill me,” said Preston. “I pulled my pistol back up and said if he tried that, I’d fucking shoot him.”

Attorney Elmer Woodard had white nationalist clients in court October 12 and 13. Photo Natalie Jacobsen

Preston’s gun is registered in Baltimore. “There’s no restriction on marching around this beautiful city with a firearm,” said Woodard.

Scott “Woodsy” Woods from Glasgow, Virginia, testified he’d been hit with pepper spray August 12 when a second threat emerged. “I’m right here getting attacked by this guy with a flamethrower,” he said. “I saw this guy flick this thing three times. Then he sprayed it in my face. I felt the heat.”

Said Woods, “Someone fired a shot.” And that’s when the threat stopped, he said.

Culpeper resident Corey Long, 23, identified as the man in the iconic flamethrower photo, turned himself in October 13 and was charged with disorderly conduct and in another August 12 incident, assault. He was released on an unsecured bond.

Woods said he’d been Facebook friends with Preston for about five years, and has met him “two or three times,” the last occasion at a June cookout in Martinsville.

Billy Wayne Snuffer Sr., the imperial wizard of the Rebel Brigade Knights of the True Invisible Empire, which had a gathering in Martinsville in June, came from Buchanan and testified he was prepared to put up $2,500—10 percent of a $25,000 bond, the amount Woodard suggested.

According to Vice, Snuffer was connected to another KKKer—Chris Barker, who organized the July 8 rally in Charlottesville. Snuffer expelled Barker in 2015 for defacing a synagogue in Danville.

Woodard said if released, Preston had friends who would house him in Virginia. “They’ll drag him up here,” he assured the judge. And while Preston didn’t object to electronic monitoring, because his friends live in rural areas, it might not work, said his lawyer.

Downer said it was not the flight risk that worried him. “I do think he’s a danger to others,” he said. That Preston would fire a gun in a crowd of people there to exercise their First Amendment rights, Downer said, was “totally and completely reckless.”

Two other men arrested for felonious assault for the beating of Deandre Harris in the Market Street Garage August 12 also had hearings.

Daniel Borden Photo Charlottesville police

Daniel Borden, the 18-year-old from Mason, Ohio, looked surprised on the video feed from Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail when he learned that his lawyer, Mike Hallahan, was not able to be in court that day and his hearing would be continued to December 14. Borden shook his head.

And Alex Michael Ramos, 33, from Jackson, Georgia, who was denied bond September 25, again was rebuffed because of his lack of ties in this area and the “very violent encounter” with Harris, said prosecutor Nina Antony.

Ramos, she said, was not part of the original gang beating Harris, but came from across the street to join in and punch Harris, who was on the ground.

Once again, Downer expressed his concerns about “someone who strikes someone, who kicks someone when they’re down.”

Alex Ramos from wanted poster

And Ramos’ non-resident status was another factor. “I’ve had oodles of experience with out-of-state defendants voluntarily coming back,” said Downer, in denying bond.

Ramos, too, will be back in court December 14.

Earlier that day, Harris, 20, turned himself in on a charge of unlawful wounding after League of the South member Harold Ray Crews alleged Harris assaulted him. Harris was released on an unsecured bond.