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.”
Nic McCarthy was one of nine people to have an obstruction of justice charge dropped after the July 8 KKK rally. Photo by: Eze Amos
In the never-ending string of court cases stemming from this year’s run-ins with white supremacists and neo-Nazis, 15 people went before a judge October 30 for charges brought against them during the July 8 Ku Klux Klan rally in Justice Park.
Approximately 50 members of the Loyal White Knights of the KKK, a North Carolina-based group, dropped by over the summer to protest the tearing down of the General Robert E. Lee statue—and were met by intense opposition in the form of hundreds of angry counterprotesters. Just over 20 people were arrested that day, primarily for obstruction of justice and free passage.
Kandace Baker was among those in Charlottesville General District Court October 30.
After pleading not guilty to obstruction of justice, she testified that she was looking for her husband near Justice Park around 4pm when a Virginia State Police trooper told her an unlawful assembly had been declared and she needed to leave the area. Baker tried several times to turn and walk back through the alley she initially came through, but the officer pushed her and would not allow her to exit the way she entered, she said. He arrested her and another VSP trooper “dragged [her]” to the courthouse to press charges, she said.
Though Judge Robert Downer said he had probable cause to believe she was obstructing justice, he said he’s not sure she’s guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and he let her off the hook.
“Just because you make their job a little more difficult, that’s not enough for obstruction of justice,” Downer said.
He dropped charges against nine counterprotesters who were arrested for obstructing free passage at the rally, likely in a demonstration where several anti-white supremacists linked arms in front of a gate that police planned to usher the robed Klan members through. These people include Kendall Bills, Cameron Bills, Jo Donahue, John Neavear, Nic McCarthy, Jeanne Peterson, Evan Viglietta, Whitney Whitting and Sara Tansey, who wore teal lipstick and matching tights to court in true Halloween fashion.
Tansey was found guilty of destruction of property in the same court October 16 for nabbing homegrown white rights advocate Jason Kessler’s phone while he was live-streaming a Corey Stewart rally in Emancipation Park February 11.
Also on October 30, Morgan Niles and Erika Ries pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and were both sentenced to 30 days in jail, with all of that substituted for 40 hours of community service.
Three people had their cases continued. Tracye Redd, also charged with obstruction of justice, will appear December 1. Jarrell Jones, charged with assault and battery, and Rashaa Langston, charged with failing to disperse in a riot, will be back in court March 5.
Updated Tuesday, October 24 at 3pm with a second story about court appearances on Monday, October 23.
Even months prior to August 12, the community was up to its figurative elbows in lawsuits stemming from the emergence of Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler into the local spotlight and the people who’ve made it their goal to publicly confront him.
At the end of last week and the beginning of this one, several familiar faces from the alt-right, as well as its rejectors, were in Charlottesville General District court to learn their fate from Judge Robert Downer.
Wearing a hot pink wig and carrying a Donald Trump mask as a purse, Black Lives Matter activist Veronica Fitzhugh was found not guilty October 20 of obstructing free passage at the summer’s Ku Klux Klan rally in Justice Park.
An arresting officer with the Charlottesville Police Department testified that Fitzhugh refused to leave a passageway police had secured to safely usher the KKK into the park for its permitted demonstration July 8.
The Klan was in town to protest the removal of the city’s General Robert E. Lee statue, and Fitzhugh and about 10 other counterprotesters locked arms in front of a gate into the park, delaying the white supremacist rally for about an hour, according to the CPD officer’s testimony.
When Fitzhugh was instructed to step away from the gate, she laid down in front of it and was carried out by four officers.
“No one was allowed in there except for the people authorized by the police, so this was not a public passageway,” argued her attorney, Jeff Fogel, who noted that the CPD officer’s body cam footage showed a cameraman was also standing in front of the gate that officers later corralled the Klan through. “I don’t know how they could claim Ms. Fitzhugh was obstructing the gate and that gentleman wasn’t.”
The following Monday, in the same courtroom, her attorney had several wins and losses—for additional clients and himself.
On June 1, Kessler’s own video evidence shows he and his buddy, Caleb Norris, approached Fogel outside Miller’s on the Downtown Mall. They were surrounded by members of activist group Showing Up for Racial Justice, as its members shouted “Nazi, go home” at the alleged alt-righters.
The video shows Kessler chastising Fogel for calling him a “crybaby” in April, and Norris can be heard calling the attorney a “communist piece of shit.” Fogel replies, “What did you say?” and is seen putting his hands toward Norris.
“Oh my God, this guy just assaulted my friend,” an elated Kessler says, and urges his friend to press charges against the lawyer who was running for commonwealth’s attorney at the time.
Back in the courtroom, Fogel, represented by his law partner Steve Rosenfield, said Norris leaned over at him and put his hands up to keep Norris from coming any closer. In the video, it was unclear whether Norris leaned into Fogel, but Downer cited Fogel’s unaggressive disposition when Kessler was lambasting him earlier in the clip, and said he couldn’t find Fogel guilty.
Fogel also represented Sara Tansey October 16, who was charged with destruction of property for snatching Kessler’s phone while he was live-streaming a February 11 Corey Stewart rally in Emancipation Park.
Joe Draego, best known for suing the city for being dragged out of a City Council meeting in June 2016 (after he called Muslims “monstrous maniacs” and lay down on the floor), testified that he took the phone out of Tansey’s hand and gave it back to Kessler.
While Tansey was found guilty for nabbing Kessler’s cell phone, Draego was also found guilty of assault and battery of Tansey when he took the phone back.
The judge waived Tansey’s $50 fine, and Draego was ordered to fork over $100.
Fitzhugh was also charged May 31 with assault and disorderly conduct stemming from an encounter with Kessler, in which she allegedly screamed in his face and told him to “fucking go home” as he was sitting at a table on the Downtown Mall.
The activist, known for her outlandish wardrobe, will go to trial for the assault and disorderly conduct charges November 20. What will she wear next?
Among the familiar faces in court this week was Veronica Fitzhugh, wearing a hot pink wig and carrying a purse that resembled Donald Trump’s head.
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Original story:
Wearing a hot pink wig and carrying the head of Donald Trump as a purse, activist Veronica Fitzhugh was found not guilty of obstructing free passage at the summer’s Ku Klux Klan rally in Justice Park.
An arresting officer with the Charlottesville Police Department testified in the city’s general district court October 20 that Fitzhugh refused to leave a passageway police had secured to safely usher the KKK into the park for their permitted demonstration July 8.
The Klan had dropped by to protest the tearing down of the city’s General Robert E. Lee statue, and Fitzhugh and about 10 other counterprotesters locked arms in front of a gate into the park, delaying the white supremacist rally for about an hour, according to the CPD officer’s testimony.
Police warned the crowd that they would be arrested if they did not clear the pathway for the North Carolina group called the Loyal White Knights, and as some counterprotesters began to disperse, Fitzhugh laid down in front of the gate, the officer said. He and three Virginia State Police troopers then carried her out of the vicinity, and she was charged with obstruction of free passage.
“No one was allowed in there except for the people authorized by the police, so this was not a public passageway,” argued her attorney, Jeff Fogel, who noted in the CPD officer’s body cam footage that a cameraman was also standing in front of the gate that officers later corralled the Klan through. “I don’t’ know how they could claim Ms. Fitzhugh was obstructing the gate and that gentleman wasn’t.”
Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Chapman, who prosecuted the case, said she was arrested for “admirable reasons” and “she simply took it too far.”
Judge Robert Downer found her not guilty, and Fitzhugh and Fogel emerged from the courthouse to a crowd of about 30 supporters, who cheered and clapped and lined up to hug the activist who wore a hot pink, rhinestone handcuff necklace that matched her bodacious wig.
Fitzhugh was was also charged May 31 with assault and disorderly conduct stemming from an encounter with homegrown white nationalist Jason Kessler on the Downtown Mall, in which she allegedly screamed in his face for him to “fucking go home.” Her attorney was charged with assault after a confrontation with an associate of Kessler’s June 1.
The activist, known for her outlandish wardrobe, will go to trial for the assault and disorderly conduct charges November 20. What will she wear next?
Veronica Fitzhugh knows how to accessorize. Staff photo
Joe Draego chastises commonwealth's attorney candidate Jeff Fogel for not removing himself from a case because Fogel yelled at Jason Kessler, right, who filed charges against Fogel's client.
Staff photo
Joe Draego was in court today for a charge that he assaulted Showing Up for Racial Justice activist Sara Tansey when he retrieved a phone she allegedly snatched from white-protest organizer Jason Kessler back in February. The hearing in court was pretty routine, but afterward, Draego accused Tansey’s lawyer—commonwealth’s attorney candidate Jeff Fogel—of not acting “in a principled manner” by representing Tansey and yet yelling last week at Miller’s at Kessler, who filed the complaint against Tansey.
Fogel should have recused himself after that, says Draego. “Jeff has called Jason a ‘crybaby.’ The fact he was [at Miller’s] hollering at Jason may have violated ethical standards.” Draego says his lawyer is reviewing the video to see if Fogel acted appropriately and if not, he will ask to have him removed from the case.
In the small world that is Charlottesville, Fogel represented Draego last year when Draego sued City Council for its public comment procedures after he was dragged out of council chambers for calling Muslims “monstrous maniacs.” Draego complimented Fogel for a brief he wrote in the case, and a federal judge ruled council’s rules were unconstitutional. Before the ruling, Fogel asked to be removed as Draego’s attorney.
The hearing today in Charlottesville General District Court was to continue the Draego/Tansey cases until a new special prosecutor can be found. Fluvanna Commonwealth’s Attorney Jeff Haislip had been assigned that task, but had to step aside after he talked to Tansey without her lawyer.
“The court did not advise him Ms. Tansey was represented by counsel,” said Fogel outside the courthouse.
That’s where Draego chastised Fogel for harassing Kessler while representing a party in the case.
Draego also admonished Fogel for not speaking out against SURJ’s in-your-face tactics, and pointed out that when Kessler associate Caleb Norris got in Fogel’s face last week at Miller’s, Fogel pushed him away, resulting in Fogel being charged with assault.
“Why doesn’t he come out and say no one should do that?” asks Draego.
Fogel, who was endorsed by SURJ, says, “I have seen Kessler going around in that same fashion. I don’t tell my clients what to do.” He adds, “People in SURJ have stood up with principled action for African-American community members.”
Kessler also attended today’s hearing. He was involved in another confrontation with SURJ last night on the Downtown Mall. He says some of his friends were eating at Miller’s and “SURJ mobbed us again. They kept harassing them.” Kessler was banned from Miller’s after last week’s shout fest.
Draego says he will be at the upcoming Ku Klux Klan rally July 8 “to protest them coming here. I stand against racism.”
He suggested he and Fogel do a community response about the KKK coming to Charlottesville, but seemed unconvinced that would happen.
“We can all protest without violence,” says Draego. “That’s how it’s supposed to work.”
Joe Draego, who retrieved Jason Kessler's phone, declined to comment on his assault charge, but he was happy to discuss his plans for buying a farm.
staff photo
Blogger and antifa resister Jason Kessler’s weekend was bookended by dates in the Charlottesville General District Court, one in which he claims he’s the victim, another in which he was sentenced for assault.
On Friday, May 5, a special prosecutor was named and a court date set to hear Kessler’s charge against Sara Tansey for grabbing his phone at a Corey Stewart rally February 11 in Lee Park. At that same event, Tansey alleges Joe Draego, the man who sued Charlottesville after he was dragged out of City Council for calling Muslims “monstrous maniacs,” assaulted her when he retrieved Kessler’s phone.
At an April 17 hearing, Kessler complained to the judge that Tansey should have been charged with felony larceny rather than destruction of property, a Class 3 misdemeanor, according to her attorney, Jeff Fogel. He also demanded a special prosecutor, but voiced dissatisfaction with Mike Doucette, the Lynchburg commonwealth’s attorney brought in as a special prosecutor for Kessler’s petition to remove Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy from office. Doucette determined in March Kessler did not have enough signaturesand he declined to proceed with the petition.
Fluvanna Commonwealth’s Attorney Jeff Haislip will hear the Tansey and Draego cases June 8.
Kessler’s sentencing for slugging a man was originally scheduled for April 27, but was continued because he was out of town. According to his Twitter account, Kessler was in Berkeley “resisting terrorist Antifa threats” to Ann Coulter, whose visit to the university there was canceled.
He previously pleaded guilty April 6 to punching Jay Taylor while collecting petition signatures January 22. Kessler also filed assault charges against Taylor, but the prosecutor threw those out March 3 with prejudice because video surveillance footage did not support Kessler’s story.
In court Monday, Kessler was sentenced to a 30-day suspended jail sentence, 50 hours of community service and told to have no “violent contact” with Taylor.
After the hearing, Taylor said, “I don’t think jail is appropriate. I hold no ill will toward Mr. Kessler. We worked together. I considered him a friend. I wish he’d spend as much energy building our community up rather than tearing it down.”
Claire Kaplan has continued facilitating bystander intervention trainings in town following her first on January 21, at IX Art Park. Photo by Eze Amos
When Claire Kaplan offered to facilitate a bystander intervention training before a local January 21 rally to support the Women’s March on Washington, the response was so huge that she had to turn people away. She promised to coordinate additional trainings in the future, and she’s been busy doing just that.
“Hate violence, and violence in general, has always been a problem in this and other countries. We just know about it more often because of smart phones, social media and cyber communications,” Kaplan writes in an e-mail. “I would think that bystander intervention is even more critical [now], given the dramatic and well-recorded rise in hate violence since the presidential campaign and the alt-right movement, which seems to have been given permission to express their hatred of any group that isn’t white, Christian, heterosexual and male.”
Green Dot bystander intervention is an approach to prevent violence by teaching bystanders how to act in potentially threatening situations, and Kaplan is a trained facilitator. She’s also the director of the Gender Violence & Social Change program at UVA’s Maxine Platzer Lynn Women’s Center. She says this particular training is proven through research to be effective and is being adopted by college campuses and middle and high schools across the nation.
Kaplan describes her first public, volunteer training at IX Art Park before the women’s rally as ”just the greatest thing since sliced bread. I’ve been doing this work for years now. It almost felt like I was bringing them the gospel.”
Kaplan isn’t alone in her efforts. Charlottesville resident Sara Tansey has coordinated two bystander intervention trainings of her own, the second inspired by the experience of her friend—a woman of color—at Mayor Mike Signer’s January 31 rally to name Charlottesville a “capital of the resistance.”
“Surrounded by 500 people who were supposedly committed to resisting the in-your-face white supremacy represented by [Donald] Trump, she and two [other women of color] were left on their own to confront a known white supremacist and vocal Islamophobe with a gun,” Tansey says in an e-mail. “Speakers on the stage made flippant comments about it getting loud in one part of the crowd but did nothing to shut down this violent, hateful man, making any claims of a capital of resistance laughable at best and duplicitous at worst.”
If you see someone being harassed, approach them and ask what they want and need, she says. Tansey also suggests not calling the police unless you’ve checked in with the person who is being harassed and they give you permission.
“Often when the police are involved, they direct their force against the person being harassed,” Tansey says. “Vulnerable communities are targeted by the police just like they are targeted by white supremacists.”
Why intervene? Says Tansey: “It is time to activate white people to absorb some of the violence historically directed at people of color.”
Be prepared
“If you believe you are witnessing harassing, abusive or violent behavior, the first issue is your own safety,” says Claire Kaplan. “The good news is that there are plenty of things one can do without putting your own life at risk.”
At the University of Virginia, Kaplan uses the Green Dot bystander intervention curriculum to teach the three D’s for reaction.
Direct: Speak to the parties directly and calmly. You could address the target: “Are you okay? Do you need help? Would you like to come with me to a safe place? Can I call someone for you?” Or the abuser: “Hey, that’s not cool, leave her/him alone.” Direct action means addressing the behavior, not heaping abuse on the offender.
Distract: Accidentally spill something on the ground near the scene and then apologize profusely. Tell the abuser that someone is breaking into their car. Ignore the abuser and address the target by engaging her/him in a random conversation: “Oh my gosh, it’s great to see you. How are you? How are the kids?” The target will get it and join in.
Delegate: Ask others who are nearby to help you intervene, bring the abuser’s friend over to intervene, ask a bartender for help. If a weapon is present, or if you are alone and don’t feel that you would be of much help, move quickly to a safe location and call the police.
