Tag: Richard Preston

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Found guilty: Theologian banned from UVA for life appeals decision

Anti-racist activist Eric Martin was found guilty of trespassing in UVA’s law library, where he entered and refused to leave a private room where Jason Kessler was studying. He’s appealing the conviction. Contributed photo

When about 40 protesters gathered at the University of Virginia School of Law library April 25 to chase off Jason Kessler, one man was arrested—and it wasn’t the one who brought hundreds of torch-wielding white supremacists to Grounds.

Eric Martin, a local activist and theologian, entered the private room where Kessler was studying, sat down, and quietly began reading The Rise and Fall of Apartheid. On October 2, Judge William Barkley found Martin guilty of trespassing and sentenced him to 30 days in jail, with all of the time suspended on the condition of two years of good behavior. He has also been banned from UVA for life.

Martin says he entered the room because he and the other protesters were unsure whether university officials were providing a safe space for Kessler.

“I just thought it would help clarify the status—does he have a private office or not?” Martin told C-VILLE in May. “And the second thing I thought was, ‘Hold up. They had eight months to protect their students by barring this white supremacist who brought people that maced and beat students and beat one of the librarians into a stroke.’”

A Charlottesville police officer and Stephen Parr, the law school’s chief administrative officer, asked Martin to leave the private librarian’s room. When Martin politely declined, as heard on a police body cam video shown in court, he was arrested for trespassing and removed in handcuffs.

Martin has appealed his conviction, and a trial date will be set in December, according to his attorney, Bruce Williamson.

“You don’t go to courtrooms for any kind of justice,” said Bill Streit, Martin’s friend, supporter, and fellow theologian, outside the courthouse. “If we lived in a just society, there would be no racism. White supremacy would be reconciled by justice.”

Kessler, meanwhile, has been banned from Grounds for four years.

In other white supremacy-related court news, Tyler Davis, the Florida man accused of participating in the August 12, 2017, Market Street Parking Garage beating of DeAndre Harris, pleaded not guilty to malicious wounding in Charlottesville Circuit Court on October 4. He’ll go to trial in February, while two others who participated in the beating have already been found guilty and are serving six and eight year sentences.

And Baltimore-based KKK leader Richard Preston was in the same courtroom that day, to request new counsel for an appeal.

In May, Preston pleaded no contest and was found guilty of firing a gun within 1,000 feet of a school on the day of the Unite the Right rally, when Corey Long famously pointed an improvised flamethrower in the vicinity of the Klansman. Both men claimed to be acting in self-defense, and Preston was sentenced to four years in prison.

In entering the no contest plea, Preston waived all rights to an appeal, says legal expert David Heilberg. However, if Preston wants to object to the advice he received from his lawyer, he has to exhaust the state appeals process first before he can file a habeas petition to complain about the legal representation he got.

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‘Just evil:’ Men sentenced in August 12 parking garage beating

White nationalists chased DeAndre Harris into the Market Street Parking Garage and beat him with pieces of the wooden barricades they tore down. (Credit Image: © Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto via ZUMA Press)

The two young men handed lengthy prison sentences last week for their involvement in the August 12, 2017, brutal parking garage beating of DeAndre Harris sat in stark contrast to one another in Charlottesville Circuit Court.

One’s remorse was hard to miss. Jacob Goodwin, the Arkansas man who can be seen in videos wearing full tactical gear and kicking Harris multiple times as he lay immobile in the Market Street Parking Garage, hung his head for most of his August 23 hearing.

Last summer, a group of white nationalists chased Harris into the parking garage, surrounding him and striking him with their homemade weapons, fists, and feet. They knocked him to the ground at least twice, and continued to beat him as he struggled to get up.

Jacob Goodwin

Goodwin had tears in his eyes as Judge Rick Moore handed down a 10-year sentence with two years suspended. He turned to look at his mother, who had collapsed into his father’s lap, and her muffled sobs could be heard throughout the courtroom.

The jury that found Goodwin guilty of malicious wounding in May recommended the 10-year sentence, but suggested that some time be suspended. Prosecutor Nina-Alice Antony, who asked the judge to suspend no more than two years, said the jury didn’t have the benefit of nearly 20 letters from friends and family that were sent on Goodwin’s behalf.

The contents of the letters were not discussed, but they apparently described a different man than the one seen in the August 12 videotapes—a white man with a shield and goggles, who also wore a pin that said “88,” code for “Heil Hitler,” as he beat a bloodied black man at the largest gathering of white supremacists in recent history.

“[This] is probably him on his worst day,” Antony said. “We are dealing with a snapshot of Mr. Goodwin’s life.”

Judge Moore said he hoped so, and called it one of the most “brutal, one-sided beatings” he’d ever seen. As for the good man Goodwin was shown to be in the letters Moore received, the judge said, “How does somebody who’s this person become the person I saw on the video?”

Before Goodwin was told he’d serve eight years, he told the court he didn’t get the chance to apologize during his trial.

“I’m truly, genuinely sorry,” he said. “I can’t even imagine the aftermath of what happened—how this has affected [Harris’] life.”

Antony said Harris declined to submit a victim impact statement.

“He has been working over the past several months on putting this matter behind him,” she said. Echoed the judge, “Mr. Harris may get over his physical injuries. I don’t know that he’ll ever get over his emotional or psychological injuries.”

Later that day, an apology that came from another man who participated in the beating wasn’t as sincere.

Alex Ramos’ face was blank as Moore grappled with how much prison time to impose.

Alex Ramos, pictured with his right fist raised, and Jacob Goodwin, pictured carrying a shield.

In viral videos, the man who came to the Unite the Right rally from Georgia can be seen wearing a red Make America Great Again hat and a white tank top as he throws one of the last punches in the Market Street Parking Garage melee.

The judge stressed that Ramos didn’t get involved until Harris was already on the ground, and the beating was almost over.

“It’s like he had to interject himself when the person was already beat to pieces,” Moore said. “It’s inhumane.”

Alex Ramos

He decided on a six-year sentence for Ramos, which the jury recommended when they also found him guilty of malicious wounding in May, and said it was easier to decide in this case than in Goodwin’s or that of Richard Preston, the KKK imperial wizard he sentenced two days prior to four years in prison for firing a gun within 1,000 feet of a school on August 12, 2017 (see article on p. 13).

When Ramos took the witness stand, his defense attorney, Jake Joyce, asked him about a couple of Facebook posts he made after the Unite the Right rally, in which Ramos claimed victory, and said of the beating: “We stomped ass. Getting some was fucking fun.”

“I feel pretty embarrassed about it,” Ramos told the judge.

His attorney also noted the “elephant in the room:” Ramos is Hispanic, and not a white nationalist. Ramos described himself as a “conservative” and said he’s always been “somewhat of an outcast” at right-wing events.

The judge said Ramos fought as if he was trying to prove himself or impress somebody.

As for ganging up on Harris in the parking lot, Ramos said, “I made a wrong judgment call…I feel pretty bad. I kinda wish I could apologize to Mr. Harris.”

When advocating for Ramos to serve the full six-year sentence, Antony said he “might still need some time to think.”

Seemingly changing his demeanor just moments before his official sentence was handed down, Ramos said, “I am really sorry.”

“You can spend the rest of your life thinking about that,” the judge said. “It’s just evil.”

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Shooter sentenced: KKK imperial wizard gets four years

Richard Preston leaves court May 8 after pleading no contest to firing a gun August 12, 2017. File photo

 

At the first felony sentencing from last year’s violent Unite the Right rally, a judge on August 21 ordered a Maryland Confederate White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan leader to serve four years in prison for firing a gun at flamethrower-wielding Corey Long after an unlawful assembly had been declared.

Richard Wilson Preston, 53, had pleaded no contest May 8 to discharging a weapon within 1,000 feet of a school, which carries from two to 10 years in prison. The charge is made so infrequently that the court had no sentencing guidelines, and Preston’s attorney Elmer Woodard called it a “chocolate sauce charge” to enhance existing laws.

In a widely viewed ACLU video from August 12, 2017, Preston is seen pulling out a pistol and firing toward Long, who is standing beside what is now Market Street Park and aiming a makeshift flamethrower at rally-goers as they exited the park. Long was convicted of disorderly conduct June 8 and is appealing his conviction.

Screenshot of the ACLU video showing Richard Preston firing at Corey Long.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania noted the importance of the sentencing both for Preston and for the community, and asked for eight years. He stressed the case was not about Preston’s ideology, but about proving his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. “This is about punishing the conduct and choices Mr. Preston made,” said Platania.

“He made a decision to utter a racial slur and fire a gun in the middle of this incredibly charged situation,” said the prosecutor, who also noted that Preston didn’t appear to show “much remorse” for his actions.

Klan whisperer Daryl Davis, a black musician who has spent 30 years befriending KKK members to try to understand why they hate people because of the color of their skin, testified he’d known Preston for five years, that he’d taken him to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, and had walked Preston’s fiancee down the aisle when they recently married. Davis previously testified that he’d put up half of Preston’s bond.

Woodard, who’s become the go-to attorney for several white supremacists charged that day, said Preston was a “little agitated” after having a newspaper box thrown at him and being threatened with a nail-studded stick.

“This whole thing was started by a man with a flamethrower,” said Woodard. “Mr. Preston kept them from being burned alive.”

He compared Preston’s actions to the “lost battalion” of World War I that suffered enormous losses and faced German flamethrowers: “It’s all about the willingness to stand up at the risk of being burned alive himself,” said the mutton-chopped attorney from Blairs.

Blairs attorney Elmer Woodard leaves Charlottesville Circuit Court after his Klan client was sentenced to four years. staff photo

“I don’t believe it’s proper to send a man to prison who didn’t hurt anyone,” added Woodard.

Before the judge sentenced him, Preston, in a choked voice, said, “I didn’t want to hurt anybody.”

Moore said he had to base his sentence on what he’d seen on a day when downtown Charlottesville was like a “tinderbox.” Earlier in the day, Preston was shouting threats and showing his gun, said the judge. “This whole thing was driven by anger and belligerence, not fear.”

Moore didn’t see flames that close to the people leaving the park, he said. “I don’t find you saving their lives by firing.”

He added, “I don’t think he shot the gun out of necessity.”

Moore compared Preston to a “middle-school kid” and said his action was “one of the most foolish, dangerous things you would ever do,” before sentencing Preston to eight years, with four suspended, three years probation and 10 years of good behavior.

Before a deputy led Preston away, the imperial wizard mouthed, “I love you” to his sobbing bride in the courtroom.

Davis says there were a lot of “what-ifs” in the prosecution’s case: What if someone had walked in front of Preston’s gun or got hit by a ricochet or others started firing? “These are all valid points,” writes Davis in an email, “but there was no mention of, ‘What if the flame had indeed come in contact with the clothing of one of the people descending the steps and caught this person on fire? What if that caused even more people retaliate and an all out race war got started?’”

Davis would have liked to have seen Preston sentenced to time served, a fine, anger management courses and more racial educational outings with him. And ultimately, he says, “I blame the police. Had they been doing their job instead of standing around doing nothing, neither Corey nor Richard would have been inclined to engage their weapons.”

Also during court August 21, Woodard withdrew appeals for his clients Evan McLaren, executive director of Richard Spencer’s National Policy Institute, and JonPaul Struys, both of whom were convicted of failure to disperse when ordered out of what was then called Emancipation Park August 12. A third client, Identity Evropa founder Nathan Amigo, had previously withdrawn his appeal of the misdemeanor conviction.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania says the judge was careful and went into great detail before sentencing Richard Preston. staff photo

 

 

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Preston’s plea: Imperial wizard says no contest to firing gun

Baltimore’s imperial wizard of the Confederate White Knights of the KKK did not appear in court wearing his shiny Klan robes. He didn’t wear the prison stripes from previous appearances, nor did he wear the bandana and tactical vest he sported August 12 when he was videoed firing a Ruger SR9 toward flamethrower-brandishing Corey Long.

Richard Wilson Preston wore a dark pinstriped suit and tie in Charlottesville Circuit Court May 8 when he told a judge that he was pleading no contest 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.

Even though his plea was no contest, his mutton-chopped, boater-hat-wearing attorney from Blairs, Virginia,—Elmer Woodard—objected when Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania read a statement of facts of evidence the commonwealth would have presented had there been the three-day trial scheduled to begin May 9.

Judge Rick Moore had to remind Woodard, “You can’t object when you plead no contest.”

One of the witnesses would have been former Charlottesville mayor Frank Buck, whom Platania said saw Long ignite an aerosol spray can directed toward people leaving Emancipation Park after the Unite the Right rally was declared an unlawful assembly. Buck also saw Preston pull out a silver handgun and point it toward the ground beside Long, and he heard someone shout a racial slur at Long and then a gunshot, according to the prosecutor.

Moore found the evidence as summarized “substantial,” and corroborated by bullet fragments and Preston’s own admission to the FBI after his arrest August 26. He scheduled sentencing for May 9, but warned he still could order a pre-sentence report before sentencing Preston.

Legal expert David Heilberg says the no contest plea is unusual, but it’s the “functional equivalent of a guilty plea.” He also said that if a jury had convicted Preston, they would not have been able to give him fewer than two years.

In court today, Platania showed the judge videos taken earlier on August 12 in which the C-VILLE Weekly box was hurled and Preston is heard saying, “I will go out and shoot you. I’ll shoot you.” In another he says, “I’m pissed off. I’m going to shoot one of these motherfuckers,” to which Woodard objected that the video doesn’t show Preston making the latter comment.

“I saw him say it with his mouth moving,” said Moore.

Woodard, dressed in a seersucker suit and red tie, presented four witnesses who testified they felt endangered by Long. Jonathan Howe, a law clerk in Maryland who was here for the rally, said he’d gotten doused with “some kind of paint thinner” as he left the park.

“This was a very surreal moment,” he said. “I had a flammable substance on my hand and someone running around with a flamethrower.” He said he was apprehensive that he could become a “human torch.”

Woodard had subpoenaed DeAndre Harris, the man who was brutally beaten in the Market Street Parking Garage. It was after 10:30am when Woodard asked if Harris were present. “The time to ask that might have been 9:30,” observed the judge.

And although Platania stipulated that paint thinner is volatile and ignites quickly, Woodard showed the judge a clip of Harris and Long spraying a Confederate flag and lighting it, noting  “the flame and puff.”

Witness David Fowler said “one little girl got me three times” with pepper spray. He says he was unable to see and being helped out of the park when he heard the whoosh of the aerosol can. “As far as I’m concerned, [Preston] is a hero,” said Fowler. “We shouldn’t be here.”

Gregory Scott “Woodsy” Woods from Glasgow, Virginia, also encountered Long as he left the park and described swinging his flagpole at Long and knocking the aerosol out of his hand after Long “kind of charges at me with the flamethrower.” Woods said he could feel the heat and was trapped on the steps leading to the park until Preston fired his gun.

Under cross examination, Woods denied he said Long was charging at him after Platania showed him a video, which was not visible to the rest of the courtroom. “Once he lights it, he takes a step forward,” said Woods.

Not all of the witnesses were present at the exit from Emancipation Park. Daryl Davis, a black musician who’s known for befriending Klansmen to understand why they hate him in hopes of dispelling that, testified he’s known Preston for five years and they both live in the Baltimore area.

Davis said he put up 50 percent of Preston’s bond and was going to take him to see the African American Museum of History in Washington, but Preston’s house arrest prevented that visit. And when shown apparently racist comments Preston posted on Facebook after August 12—those were not read in court—Davis said he regrets those sentiments.

“I’m testifying because he’s my friend,” said Davis. “He’s in trouble and I’m trying to help.”

After three hours in the courtroom, Moore, as he’d predicted, ordered a pre-sentence report and set August 21 for Preston’s sentencing.

 

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In brief: Get off the tracks, a Klansman’s plea and and a misidentified racist

Photo: Skycladap.com

See tracks? Think train

That’s advice from Dave Dixon, the safety and compliance supervisor of the Buckingham Branch Railroad, who notes the national increase of railroad crossing fatalities this year.

One of them happened here. An Amtrak carrying GOP congressmen smashed into a garbage truck on Crozet
train tracks in January, killing 28-year-old truck passenger Christopher Foley.

In an increased effort to educate drivers, Dixon offers advice for what to do if your car gets stuck on the crossing:

1. Evacuate the car and get away from the tracks.

2. Call the number on the blue sign at the crossing, not 911.

3. If a train approaches, run toward the train at a 45-degree angle and away from the track.

4. Don’t run down track, where the train could knock the vehicle into you.

Other tips:

  • Don’t drive around the gates.
  • Never try to “beat a train.”
  • At private crossings without gates, stop, look and listen before crossing.
  • Before crossing, be sure there’s enough room on the other side to safely clear the tracks.
  • If the gates are down while you’re on the crossing, drive through the gate. It’s designed to break away.
  • Report any malfunctioning gates, lights or other problems to the number on the blue sign.

Preston pleads

Courtesy of an ACLU video

An imperial wizard of Baltimore’s Confederate White Knights of the KKK, who was charged with firing a gun within 1,000 feet of a school at the Unite the Right rally, pleaded no contest May 5, just one day before his trial was scheduled to begin. Richard Preston was aiming his gun at Corey Long, who pointed a homemade flamethrower at the Klansman in a photo that went viral.

High-paying jobs

Ralph Northam

Governor Ralph Northam was in town May 2 to tout CoConstruct, a web-based company in Albemarle that helps custom homebuilders and remodelers manage their projects, and its plans to expand its IT ops and hire 69 new employees, some of whom will earn over $100,000. Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball called Charlottesville the “Camelot of Virginia.”

Northam noncommittal on Soering

In his second visit to Albemarle County in five days, Northam was at the Virginia Humanities’ folklife showcase when WVTF’s Sandy Hausman asked him about the pardon petition for Jens Soering amid increased calls from law enforcement supporting Soering’s innocence. Northam said he will stand by the decision of the parole board, which has denied parole 13 times.

Sage Smith episode

DaShad “Sage” Smith

Charlottesville police are still looking for leads in the homicide of Smith, who was last seen November 20, 2012. The disappearance is the subject of an episode on the Investigation Discovery channel show “Disappeared.” “Born this Way” airs at 7pm May 9. Police also seek information on the whereabouts of Erik McFadden, who was supposed to meet Smith the day of her disappearance.

Greene official charged

Larry Snow, Greene County commissioner of revenue, was charged with four felonies for use of trickery to obtain information stemming from a DMV investigation, according to the Greene County Record. Snow, 69, was first elected in 1987. In 2010, he was convicted of practicing law without a license, a misdemeanor.

Bad babysitter

Yowell-Rohm

Kathy Yowell-Rohm pleaded guilty to felony cruelty or injury to a child and operating a home daycare without a license after police found 16 children—most with seriously dirty diapers—from a few months old to age 4 in her home last December. She also pleaded guilty to assaulting an EMT in a parking lot at the November 24 UVA-Virginia Tech football game.

Terrys end treestand-off

Mother Red Terry, 61, and daughter Minor Terry, 30, came down May 5 from the trees on their property near Roanoke where they’d been camped since April 2 to protest the Mountain Valley Pipeline after a federal judge found them in contempt and said she’d start fining the Terrys for every day they defied her order.

Quote of the Week

“Out in the fresh air and sunshine, he could just have walked away.” —Judge Rick Moore at the trial of Alex Michael Ramos, who was convicted of the malicious wounding of DeAndre Harris.

Misidentified racist

Don Blankenship, Larry Sabato and MyPillow Guy Mike Lindell

It’s always best if the offended has a sense of humor.

A Huffington Post Instagram account called @huffpostasianvoices posted a photo of UVA’s Larry Sabato along with a story called, “GOP Senate Candidate: ‘Chinaperson’ Isn’t Racist,” referring to Don Blankenship, the West Virginian who recently used the racial slur, and who CNN editor Chris Cillizza has called “the worst candidate in America.”

Sabato did appear in an interview for the story, and on Twitter, he said, “After a loyal former student alerted me to the photo mix up, we reported it and it was quickly corrected.”

Blankenship isn’t his only doppelgänger. Two years ago, reporter Megyn Kelly noted that Sabato looks strikingly similar to the MyPillow infomercial salesman.

Tweeted the founder and director of the university’s Center for Politics, “After all, Don Blankenship, MyPillow guy and I all have a mustache, and everyone knows all mustachioed men look alike.”

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Guilty: First August 12 parking garage beater convicted

Jacob Goodwin, one of four men charged in the beating of DeAndre Harris August 12, was found guilty of malicious wounding. Charlottesville police

 

A Charlottesville jury decided May 1 that a man from Ward, Arkansas, who took part in a brutal beatdown of a local black man in the Market Street Parking Garage on August 12, was guilty of malicious wounding, potentially setting the bar for three other assailants accused of the same crime in the same incident, and who are set to go on trial in the very near future.

In videos from the Unite the Right rally that have since been viewed tens of thousands of times, Jacob Goodwin can be seen wearing all black tactical gear, a helmet, goggles, and two pins—one that said “88,” or code for “Heil Hitler,” and one with the logo of the Traditionalist Worker Party—and carrying a shield when kicking DeAndre Harris multiple times among a gaggle of other white supremacists.

Jurors were visibly disturbed while watching.

“He has yet to express any regret for his actions that day,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania, when asking the jury to consider a jail sentence recommendation. “And I would submit he has none.”

The man identified as a self-described white rights activist in an NBC documentary sat in court wearing a suit and tie and with a long, brown braided ponytail. During his testimony, he said he thought he was being attacked by Harris, and he was using his feet to defend himself.

“To be honest, I was terrified,” he said, adding that he thought he’d be sent to the hospital “terribly hurt,” or that he might even “perish.”

The jury of nine women and three men didn’t buy it, and they recommended giving Goodwin a 10-year sentence with perhaps some time suspended, a $25,000 fine and empathy training. Judge Rick Moore set an official sentencing for August 23.

Goodwin’s mother had her head in her hands when defense attorney Elmer Woodard wrapped up his closing argument, in which he insisted that Goodwin was legally allowed to defend himself from a perceived threat, which protects the Arkansas man from being convicted of malicious wounding. For that specific charge, a prosecutor must show an attempt to kill, maim or disable, or evidence of ill will or spite, according to the attorneys.

“They want you to convict this man because he’s a white man and DeAndre’s a black man,” Woodard said to the jury. The white man’s parents and a handful of other supporters, including Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler, were present for the two-day trial.

So were community members who have aggressively praised Harris for his fight against white supremacy that day in August, and who demanded that Platania drop a malicious wounding charge that Harris was initially given from the event, when he allegedly bashed a man in the head with a Maglite moments before he was beaten to the ground.

Harris’ charge was amended to assault and he was acquitted in Charlottesville General District Court in March.

Woodard argued that while his client was wearing armor, the Maglite and towel Harris carried were the real weapons, and that the man beaten by white supremacists was the true aggressor.

“Body armor’s a defensive thing,” said Woodard. “Nobody ever got beaten to death with body armor.”

And while the defense attorney argued several times that Harris’ most significant injuries, such as the head laceration that required eight stitches, were a result of the other men involved and not Goodwin, Nina-Alice Antony, an assistant commonwealth’s attorney, said they were acting in concert.

“Each person is responsible, not just for his specific action, but the action of the group,” she said, adding that concert of action can happen in an instant, even between people who are unknown to each other. “You don’t have to have a handshake agreement before that.”

The three other men charged with malicious wounding in the parking garage beatdown are Alex Ramos, Daniel Borden and Tyler Watkins Davis. Ramos goes on trial today.

Woodardisms

Attorney Elmer Woodard. Photo Natalie Jacobsen

This Blairs, Virginia, attorney was largely unknown in the Charlottesville area until he began representing a bevy of white supremacists with Unite the Right-related charges, including Jacob Goodwin, “Crying Nazi” Chris Cantwell and Richard Preston, the KKK leader charged with firing his gun on August 12. Now he’s one of the most talked about defenders in town. Here’s what he had to say at Goodwin’s May 1 trial:

”Gravity applies to DeAndre just like it applies to you and me.”

—on why Harris didn’t fall back down, but rather stood up after the prosecutor argued that Goodwin kicked him so hard that he lifted off the ground

“Why DeAndre, you have upset me.”

—on what Goodwin would have said if he truly felt anger, and was acting out of malice

“Is it concert of action to stand in the Hardee’s line together?”

—on how people who don’t know each other can act together and share similar views

”If it’s raining, you put on a raincoat. If there’s fighting, you put on a helmet.”

—on why Goodwin was wearing tactical gear and a helmet

 

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Split decision: Shooter gets bond, alleged assailant doesn’t

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

 

Two ponytailed Unite the Right participants represented by the same Blairs, Virginia-based lawyer had different fates in their January 4 bond hearings in Charlottesville Circuit Court.

Judge Humes Franklin granted 52-year-old Baltimore resident Richard Preston, an imperial wizard of the Confederate White Knights of the KKK who was filmed firing a gun during the August 12 Unite the Right rally, a $50,000 cash bond with the instruction to not leave the state, possess a firearm or “engage in any assemblies, if you will.”

Defense attorney Elmer Woodard called on Billy Snuffer Sr., the imperial wizard of the Rebel Brigade Knights of the True Invisible Empire, who testified he had a “trailer down on the farm” in Martinsville, where he would allow Preston to live pending his three-day trial in May.

Snuffer, who told the judge he owns Snuffer’s Auto Repair in Buchanan, offered to give Preston a job while out on bond, but it is unclear whether the judge will allow Preston to leave the trailer for matters other than court and to meet with his attorney, who also represents several other white nationalists, including “Crying Nazi” Chris Cantwell.

In a separate hearing on the same day, Jacob Goodwin, a 22-year-old from Arkansas who allegedly participated in the Market Street Parking Garage beatdown of DeAndre Harris, was denied his shot at getting out of jail.

Goodwin, wearing all-black clothing, black goggles, a helmet and carrying a shield on August 12, can be identified in widely circulated videos of the attack, but Woodard told the judge his client was simply walking to his car in the garage when he encountered two groups of people “exercising their First Amendment rights with great vigor,” and unintentionally became involved in the scuffle.

“I was walking and DeAndre Harris come sprinting at me,” Goodwin testified. “He come at me, kind of bounced off my shield and I kicked him.”

On a small scrap of paper, Woodard offered to the judge an address apparently near Richmond where a friend identified by the prosecution as Eric Davis had invited Goodwin to live, if granted bond.

When Franklin asked how long Goodwin had known the Central Virginia resident, the Arkansas man first said four months, but quickly changed his answer to about a year. No one could determine whether Goodwin’s friend, whom he said he met at a “political meeting” in Kentucky and roomed with in hotels, lived in a house or apartment near Richmond, or whether he has a criminal record.

As Franklin was in the process of denying the request for bond, Matthew Heimbach—a co-founder of the Traditionalist Worker Party and Holocaust denier often considered to be the face of a new generation of white nationalists—approached the defense and whispered for several seconds before a deputy ordered him to sit down.

“Apparently someone in the courtroom has the answer to your questions,” interjected Woodard, but the ruling had already been made, Heimbach had already retaken his seat next to Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler and Franklin said he was done with that hearing for the day.

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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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Judge denies Cantwell jail release

Christopher Cantwell posted a tearful video online before turning himself into police. Cantwell video

Christopher Cantwell, who has been dubbed the “Crying Nazi” by critics of his teary Youtube video made after the August 12 alt-right rally and before he turned himself into police August 24, was denied bond today by a judge who cited a widely seen Vice interview that she said showed Cantwell’s approval of the violence that left local woman Heather Heyer dead.

Wearing a black-and-white jail jumpsuit, with his formerly shaved head sprouting patches of brown hair, Cantwell this morning secured a $25,000 bond for two felony counts of illegal use of tear gas and one felony count of malicious bodily injury by means of a caustic substance stemming from the August 11 tiki-torch rally of hundreds of white nationalists through UVA Grounds.

“A guilty man does not come back and turn himself in,” said his attorney, Elmer Woodard, of Pittsylvania County. “If he was a flight risk, he would have already flighted.”

But Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Tracci, who appealed the decision today in Albemarle Circuit Court before Cantwell’s scheduled release at 4pm, said the alt-right radio show host is a threat to public safety.

He also cited Cantwell’s August 13 interview with Vice News, in which he said Heyer’s murder during the Unite the Right rally was more than justified.

Cantwell also interviewed with Vice News in McIntire Park August 11, the day of the tiki-torch rally. Staff photo

“We’ll fucking kill these people if we have to,” he told reporter Elle Reeve in that interview. When she asked about the next alt-right rally, he said, “It’s going to be really tough to top, but we’re up to the challenge. …I think a lot more people are going to die before we’re done, frankly.”

In circuit court, Cantwell’s mutton-chopped attorney Woodard described his client as a “shock jock,” who made statements about murdering people to the 1,000 or so people who listened to his Radical Agenda podcast without actually intending to kill anyone.

Cantwell said the shock on his show was “race related,” but that he “never advocated that people kill Jews or blacks.”

“Did you shoot, kill or maim anyone before you got out of Charlottesville?” asked Woodard of his client, who listed the four guns he brought with him to Virginia.

Ultimately it wasn’t Cantwell’s weaponry that made Judge Cheryl Higgins decide to deny bond. She said she considered the “characteristics of the person,” and the words he used that “show a certain level of approval of the violence” of the August 11-12 weekend.

She also noted his lack of community ties, despite an offer to live with a local person that Cantwell said he only knew through the Unite the Right rally.

Cantwell’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 9.

Also in court this morning was Richard Preston, the Baltimore man charged with firing his gun during the Unite the Right rally. He appeared via video call in Charlottesville General District Court, where he said his family is working to find an attorney to represent him, and he has no other ties to the city.

Also this morning, about 20 people charged with obstructing justice or obstructing free passage during the July 8 Ku Klux Klan rally in Justice Park were scheduled to appear in the same courtroom. All but one case was continued.

Thomas Freeman, a 52 year old Twin Oaks resident, pleaded guilty for locking arms with other protesters in front of the entrance to Justice Park.

“We wanted to make it known that we, citizens of the city, did not want the KKK in the park,” he tearfully told the judge, who imposed a $100 fine, or offered a punishment of 10 days of community service instead.

“We applaud and admire a citizen who stands by his or her principles in a manner such as exhibited today,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Chapman said in a statement. His office will continue to offer defendants of the free passage cases, “in which the citizen willingly submitted to his or her arrest and cooperated with the arrest process,” the opportunity to complete 10 days of community service and have their cases dismissed.

Outside the courthouse, Freeman said he grew up in the ‘70s and remembered his parents driving him over the James River Bridge from Hampton to Smithfield, so he wouldn’t have to swim with kids with different skin tones.

“I feel guilty,” he said. “I am ashamed. …As a white man, I think it’s my job to stand up and say no, you’re not going to do that anymore.”

Freeman had a message to those who look different than him. “We’re with you. We have your back. We’re not going to allow people who look like me to beat on you.”

—With additional reporting by Lisa Provence

Updated at 8:06pm with the results of Cantwell’s bond hearing.

Updated September 1 at 10am with comments from Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Chapman.