Tag: Donald Blakney

Categories
News

Too risky: Blakney accepts plea deal to avoid incarceration

After being pepper sprayed, spat on, and called racial slurs, a detective testified that Donald Blakney admitted to taking his anger out on a man he associated with the white supremacists and neo-Nazis in town on August 12.

His lawyer painted a picture of a black father in his early 50s, the sole caretaker of his child with autism, who doesn’t have a computer or read the news, and who came to the Downtown Mall on August 12, 2017, to panhandle for the extra money he needed to buy his son’s medication.

Defense attorney David Baugh said his client, Donald Blakney, never expected to witness the largest gathering of white supremacists in modern history when he went downtown that day. And after being seen as “subhuman,” called a “nigger,” pepper sprayed, and spat on, he got angry—and decided to retaliate.

At a March hearing in Charlottesville General District Court, Eric Mattson, a self-proclaimed Constitutionalist from Arkansas, testified that he was carrying a rolled up American flag when Blakney approached him from behind and beat him over the head with a stick. It broke Mattson’s sunglasses, and caused him to black out for a moment, he said.

And when Mattson, who traveled 16 hours to Charlottesville, went back to his hotel room on August 12, he said he saw footage of Blakney assaulting him on national news.

Almost half a year later, in January, Blakney was charged with malicious wounding. Detective David Stutzman testified in March that when he visited Blakney at his home, Blakney admitted to taking his anger out on the man he associated with the white supremacists and neo-Nazis. The detective said Blakney immediately felt remorse, and asked if Mattson was okay.

In Charlottesville Circuit Court on November 6, Blakney sat solemnly, with one hand gripping his cane and his eyes low.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania cited Blakney’s sincerity as one reason for offering him a plea deal that would downgrade the felony charge to misdemeanor assault, suspend any jail time, and omit any associated fines. He added that a jail sentence would prevent Blakney from taking care of his noncommunicative son. Platania also said the victim had requested Blakney receive no time behind bars.

Platania and Baugh had very frank discussions about how to proceed, how Baugh planned to argue his case if it went to trial, and what the best outcome would be, according to the prosecutor.

Ultimately, Blakney felt he couldn’t risk going to jail if a jury convicted him of malicious wounding, and decided to take the deal, according to his lawyer and spiritual adviser.

It’s a compromise that keeps him home, but one his supporters don’t think is just.

“Mr. Blakney is a man who loves his family, a man who allowed himself to be unjustly treated so that he could be with, and care for, his family,” says Pastor Phil Woodson, of the First United Methodist Church. “He couldn’t fight for justice because justice is not guaranteed, especially for people of color, and he couldn’t risk it…and so justice passed him by.”

Circuit Court Judge Rick Moore has found three white supremacists from out of town guilty of malicious wounding for their actions at the Unite the Right rally, and two are serving six- and eight-year prison sentences. Perhaps it’s not surprising that the judge took time to mull over the plea deal that Baugh and Platania presented to him for the local man.

But Moore eventually approved it—adding that he thought “long and hard,” and also noting the difference in Blakney’s behavior versus the others.

“A lot of people tried to hide or lie,” said Moore. “And he did show remorse.”

Looking at Blakney, he said, “Maybe I’m naive, but I believe what’s been told to me. …I hope this is truly a one-time experience for you.”

Blakney and his family have received death threats since August 12, and were frightened by police who showed up unannounced to investigate the threats, according to the pastor who sat in the gallery in support of the man he calls his friend.

Says Woodson, “It is my hope and prayer that Mr. Blakney and his family will be able to move on from all this, that their fear subsides, and that they never have to go through this again.”

Categories
News

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.

Categories
News

Blakney’s August 12 charge moves forward

After being pepper sprayed, spat on, and called racial slurs, a detective testified that Donald Blakney admitted to taking his anger out on a man he associated with the white supremacists and neo-Nazis in town on August 12.

Charlottesville man Donald Blakney, who is accused of maliciously wounding an Arkansas resident on August 12, had his charge certified to the grand jury in Charlottesville General District Court on March 8.

Eric Mattson, who testified he’s a member of a Constitutionalist group called the Highwaymen, said he traveled 16 hours to the Unite the Right rally to protect the First Amendment. And in doing so, he said Blakney beat him over the head with a stick so hard that it snapped, and he blacked out for a second.

“My brain rattled,” he told judge Robert Downer. “I was just walking, minding my own business.”

Detective David Stutzman testified that in his interview with Blakney, who wasn’t charged until January, the 51-year-old said he was on his way to the Downtown Mall to panhandle on August 12 when he observed the Unite the Right rally. After being pepper sprayed by someone in a white polo, slapped and called racial slurs, the detective said Blakney admitted to taking his anger out on a man he associated with the white supremacists and neo-Nazis.

Mattson said Highwaymen are neutral. In the year that he’s been a member of the organization, he’s been to about 10 similar rallies to support free speech.

He was unarmed and carrying a wooden flagpole with a rolled up American flag when someone attacked him from behind, he testified. He then saw Blakney run off into the crowd, and when he got back to his hotel room that night, he saw footage of himself being socked on the news.

Defense attorney David Baugh argued that his client hit Mattson against the head in the heat of passion, which means it legally can’t be defined as malicious, but the judge declined to lessen the charge to unlawful wounding.

“I don’t know why this is being prosecuted,” Baugh said. “That guy’s a classic Klansman. He’s got the beard, he’s got the look. …He doesn’t know the Constitution from a pack of bubblegum.”

The judge agreed that Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania had ample probable cause for the case to move forward.

Outside the courtroom, members of multiple activist groups encircled an emotional Blakney.

At a rally three days before the hearing, the same groups demanded the prosecutor drop the charges against Blakney and two other African-American men accused of similar crimes on August 12.

The activists say “it is both unjust and unacceptable to criminally prosecute these men for defending themselves and their community against white supremacist terror,” according to a press release.

“It has long been a guiding principle of this office that those who perpetrate violence in our community must be held accountable and those who have violence inflicted upon them must be protected,” Platania said in a statement. “I plan to continue to adhere to that principle and the pending prosecutions referenced above will move forward. I wish to thank the public for their thoughtful and important input.”

Categories
News

In brief: Solar salvage, dog-meat farm rescue and more

What's going to happen to the quarter-million-dollars worth of solar panels on the slated-for-demolition Main Street Arena? TBD. Photo by Skyclad Aerial

Hot topic

In 2012, the Local Energy Alliance Program floated a low-interest loan of $280,000 for Mark Brown to install solar panels on top of the Main Street Arena using a $500,000 grant from the city. Now that he’s sold the building and it’s slated for demolition, some are wondering what will happen to the panels on the roof.

The loan was paid in full when Brown listed the property, confirms LEAP spokesperson Kara West.

“The only reason we put those panels in was because the city wanted us to,” says Brown, who says he broke even on the panels. “Most of the savings came from them shading the building from sun on that side of the building.”

Solar expert Roger Voisinet says some parts of the system, such as the inverters, can be recycled more easily than others. As for the panels, “It depends,” he says.

There’s plenty that can be recycled from the building, he observes, such as the copper roof and the equipment that makes it an ice rink, which current owner Jaffray Woodriff pledged to donate to a business venture that would create a new ice rink in a different location.

Woodriff’s Taliaferro Junction LLC bought the property in early 2017 for $5.7 million, and the arena, as well as the building that houses Escafé, are all coming down to make way for a tech center. That won’t happen until the Board of Architectural Review approves the site plan, probably not before this summer, according to city planner Brian Haluska.

Details are not final on what will happen with the solar panels, according to a Woodriff spokesperson.

The solar panel loan was controversial at the time, says Brown. “I don’t think there were any real losers. It wasn’t an Omni bailout deal.” That’s a reference to the city pumping $11 million in taxpayer funds to the hotel in the ’80s and secretly forgiving the loans in closed executive sessions a decade later.

Says Brown, “I’d assume [the panels] will be thrown in the garbage.”

“There are people in Virginia history that I think it’s appropriate to memorialize and remember that way, and others that I would have a difference of opinion on.”—Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax speaking to reporters after he declined to adjourn the Senate January 22 to honor General Stonewall Jackson

New city flack

Brian Wheeler, executive director of Charlottesville Tomorrow, will take over as spokesperson for the City of Charlottesville, a position Miriam Dickler most recently held. Wheeler starts the $98,000-a-year-plus-benefits job (more than $5,000 above Dickler’s salary) February 20. He co-founded the online news nonprofit in 2005 and implemented a groundbreaking partnership with the Daily Progress. He will devote the remainder of his time with Charlottesville Tomorrow to finding a fundraising successor.

Paw patrol

The Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA is housing a group of canines that Humane Society International rescued from a dog meat farm in Namyangju, South Korea. Many of the animals suffered eye infections, skin disease and have leg and paw sores from standing and sitting on thin wire mesh. HSI rescued 170 pups in total, but it’s unclear how many are up for adoption locally.

Police Academy director dies

File photo Jen Fariello

Albemarle resident Hugh Wilson, creator of “WKRP in Cincinnati,” died January 14 at age 74. He was a writer for “The Bob Newhart Show,” and he broke into directing with Police Academy in 1984. He also directed Guarding Tess and The First Wives Club, and in 2001 made Mickey with fellow Albemarlean John Grisham.

#metoo for UVA board member

First lady of New Jersey Tammy Murphy says she was sexually assaulted while a second-year student at UVA. Murphy, who graduated in 1987 and sits on the Board of Visitors, revealed the attack at a January 20 Women’s March event in Morristown, New Jersey. She says she was pulled into the bushes walking home alone and managed to escape. Her attacker was later jailed for a different crime.

Another counterprotester arrested

Six months after the Unite the Right rally, police arrested Donald Blakney, 51, for malicious wounding near the Market Street Garage melee. He was released on $2,000 bond.

 

 

 

 

 

Worst headline about a UVA alum

“Another sycophant trashes her reputation” was Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank’s January 16 piece about UVA law’s Kirstjen Nielsen, now secretary of Homeland Security, who denied hearing President Donald Trump use the term “shithole” to describe the countries he doesn’t want immigrants from in the infamous meeting at which she was present.

Killed bills

Here’s what legislation has died in the General Assembly so far.

  • SB360 would allow localities to ban firearms at permitted events.
  • SB385 limits handgun purchases to one a month.
  • SB444 allows localities to remove war memorials, and it died in Senate committee on party line vote 7-6 January 16. House Minority Leader David Toscano has a similar bill in the House of Delegates.
  • SB245 prohibits conversion therapy for LGBTQ youths.
  • SB665, carried by state Senator Creigh Deeds, adds Charlottesville and Albemarle to the list to localities where it’s unlawful to carry certain firearms in public places.
  • SB744 makes not wearing a seatbelt a primary offense and requires backseat passengers to be belted. Currently police can’t pull over a driver for being seatbelt-less and can only ticket if they observe another primary violation.