Tag: Sines V. Kessler

Each day, we’ll have the latest news from the courtroom in the Sines v. Kessler Unite the Right trial. For coverage from previous days, check the list of links at the bottom of this page.

The difficulty of finding a jury without preconceived notions and biases about the Unite the Right rally here in Charlottesville continued into the second day of the Sines v. Kessler trial. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of nine plaintiffs, alleges a conspiracy among the white supremacist and neo-Nazi rally organizers to commit racially motivated violence when they gathered August 11 and 12, 2017.

It was after 6:30pm Tuesday when Judge Norman Moon decided to call it a day with only 10 jurors seated. He was willing to go with a panel of 11, but the defendants called for 12. Two more groups of jurors will be called in on Wednesday.

Other issues arose throughout the day. Attorney Edward ReBrook, working on behalf of defendants National Socialist Movement, the Nationalist Front, and Jeff Schoep, was in the emergency room, with no report on his condition by the end of the day. And the plaintiffs have a motion to reconsider a juror the defendants struck Monday, claiming the defendants’ challenge was made on the basis of race. 

“I’m hoping we can get a full panel by noon,” said Moon, while acknowledging opening arguments may not be able to proceed Wednesday.

Twenty-six potential jurors showed up at the federal courthouse. Some were dismissed for work concerns if seated for a four-week trial. Others said they had already formed opinions about both the defendants and the plaintiffs.

One woman identified the two parties in the case as “Black Lives Matter and antifa.” She also had a problem with the rights of “radical communists and atheists” to protest. Moon dismissed her.

Another said her son’s after-school teacher was “Mr. Dre,” whom the judge concluded was DeAndre Harris. Harris was severely beaten in the Market Street Garage. She began to cry on the stand, and Moon said he was striking her for cause as well.

“I never liked protests. I felt like everyone should stay home,” said a third woman, who was struck for cause. Asked whether she could set aside her preconceived notions about protesters, she ballparked her odds at 75 percent.

One potential male juror said, “I am biased against the defendants. I believe they’re evil and their organizations are evil. I would find that difficult to set aside.” 

“Crying Nazi” Christopher Cantwell and alt-right leader Richard Spencer, who are both representing themselves, wanted to question the man further after Moon was ready to dismiss him. That led to defense attorney James Kolenich lamenting pro se litigants, and said they could be prejudicial to his clients. Kolenich represents Jason Kessler, Nathan Damigo, and Identity Evropa.

A civics teacher who called the defendants “heinous” said he thought he could be fair. That was too big a leap for Moon, who struck for cause again.

One man called the left “unhinged” and said he believed the plaintiffs “probably” were armed. Another said, “I have already made up my mind. I live in this town. I know people who were assaulted. That poor girl died. I’ve already made up my mind.” Both were excused with cause.

At the end of the day, the court had seated three jurors: two men and a woman. Jury selection will continue into Wednesday.

Previous Sines v. Kessler coverage

Pre-trial: Their day in court: Major lawsuit against Unite the Right neo-Nazis heads to trial

Day one: Trial kicks off with jury selection

Each day, we’ll have the latest news from the courtroom in the Sines v. Kessler Unite the Right trial. For coverage from previous days, check the list of links at the bottom of this page.

With heightened security outside the courthouse, the courtroom closed to the public, and media restricted to a live feed of proceedings in a separate room inside the federal court building in downtown Charlottesville, Sines v. Kessler got underway on Monday morning. The lawsuit is aimed at disrupting and bankrupting the hate groups responsible for the August 2017 Unite the Right rally. Difficulty seating a jury in the civil case emerged almost immediately.

“These people are terrorists,” said the first prospective juror questioned in court about his ability to be objective about the defendants, a who’s who of white supremacists and neo-Nazis.

“Do you think you can set aside that opinion,” asked presiding Judge Norman K. Moon.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can,” the man replied, prompting Moon to release him from the jury pool.

Moon released another prospective juror over advanced age and a heart condition (jury service is optional for those 70 and over). Several others who are self-employed requested release from jury service due to the length of the trial, which is scheduled to last four weeks. The court also released a school bus driver who noted that the nationwide shortage in her field would make a four-week absence a hardship for students.

By mid-afternoon, 12 prospective jurors had been questioned and nine had been released for reasons ranging from age and health to self-professed bias. As court wrapped up at 6pm, several more had survived challenges from the defense or plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs in the case are represented by a phalanx of high-powered attorneys led by Roberta Kaplan and funded by the nonprofit Integrity First for America. Kaplan is best known for her 2013 victory in the landmark Supreme Court case United States v. Windsor, a watershed moment in the quest for marriage equality.

On the opposite side of the courtroom, several attorneys representing defendants were present, while Christopher Cantwell and alt-right leader Richard Spencer represented themselves. 

Negative views of Nazis and white supremacists were frequent among the prospective jury pool but weren’t the only strong feelings expressed.

“You have unfavorable views against antifa?” Moon said to a female prospective juror.

“Honestly, I think they’re all a terrorist organization. They’re trying to hurt people,” the woman responded.

“Realizing that all the plaintiffs will say they are not members of that organization, do you think you can give the plaintiffs a fair hearing and make decisions based on law and evidence?” Moon asked. 

“Yes,” the woman replied.

While jury selection took the majority of the time on Monday, the day started with a motion by plaintiffs to sever the case for Cantwell. If granted, the motion would create a separate lawsuit with Cantwell as the only defendant.

“The reason why we’ve done it just now is we were here for the first time with Mr. Cantwell, and we saw how he was given documents that he had never seen before,” said Kaplan. Kaplan noted that Cantwell’s present incarceration for threatening rape has prevented timely communication with him. 

“It’s not about any newfound empathy for Mr. Cantwell,” said Kaplan. “There does appear to be an issue with respect to Mr. Cantwell getting pleadings in this case, documents in real time.” 

Requesting the court’s permission to speak, Cantwell, who earned the moniker “the crying Nazi” after the Unite the Right rally for a self-posted video of him weeping over his impending arrest, asked the court to sanction the plaintiffs, but Moon swiftly interrupted.

“The court is willing to sever the case and allow you the time you want for your case,” said Moon. He denied the plaintiffs’ motion after Cantwell told the court he didn’t want his own legal proceeding.

Sines v. Kessler accuses Cantwell and two dozen other individuals and groups of conspiring to commit racially motivated violence before and during the weekend of the Unite the Right rally in August 2017. Defendants include the KKK, Vanguard America, League of the South and the National Socialist Movement. Individual defendants include rally organizer Jason Kessler, anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist Elliott Kline (aka Eli Mosley), Matthew Heimbach, who co-founded the Traditionalist Worker Party with fellow lawsuit defendant Matthew Parrott, and James Fields, who was convicted of murder and maiming in the August 12 car attack. 

The suit’s ambitious goal goes beyond simply punishing individuals; it seeks to financially cripple groups and people who promote bigotry, hate, and violence, preventing future Unite the Right-like rallies in Charlottesville or anywhere else in the country.

Jury selection will continue into Tuesday.

Previous Sines v. Kessler coverage

Pre-trial: Their day in court: Major lawsuit against Unite the Right neo-Nazis heads to trial

Last Tuesday, Integrity First for America hosted a program to remember August 11 and 12. IFA is a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that represents the plaintiffs in the upcoming Sines v. Kessler federal lawsuit, where August 11 and 12 victims are suing the organizers and participants of Unite the Right. The trial will take place in October and run for multiple weeks.

“A Call to Justice: Four Years After the Charlottesville Attack’’ was a virtual panel to update members of the public about the upcoming lawsuit and pay respect to victims and their families. The program featured community leaders, experts, and other partners involved in the lawsuit.

“This was the loss of my baby girl,” said Susan Bro, mother of Heather Heyer, the activist who was killed in the terrorist attack that day. “Those who were injured besides Heather need compensation for ongoing surgeries, ongoing trauma, ongoing difficulties caused by this.”

Although Bro is not a plaintiff in Sines v. Kessler, she said she supports the effort to ensure the organizers of Unite the Right are held accountable. She said Unite the Right was a “wake up call” to white America to realize the dangers of white supremacy. “We have much systemic change to make but this trial is definitely a step in the right direction.”

“Those memories will undeniably haunt me for the rest of my life,” said Elizabeth Sines, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Sines, a counterprotester, was in her second year of law school at UVA during the August 11 and 12 attacks. “I will never forget watching them [Nazis] attack my fellow students, or the feeling of running for my life through the streets I had walked with friends and family countless times before.”

Sines said she often gets asked why she showed up to counterprotest and why she decided to join the lawsuit. She said the answer to the two questions is the same: “I believe that the organizers of the Unite the Right Rally must be held accountable for the harm they’ve inflicted,” she said. “We’ve seen time and time again that without accountability, the cycle of violence, hatred, and misinformation continues and grows.”

Roberta Kaplan, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, talked about the importance of the lawsuit. Kaplan believes the court appearances will allow the American public to learn, for the first time, what really happened leading up to and during Unite the Right: what the groups were planning to do, how they went about it, and how they celebrated after the fact. 

“I believe it is so important for the American people to actually hear it and see it…with their own eyes, what really happened,” Kaplan said. 

Amy Spitalnick, executive director of Integrity First for America, spoke to the consequences the organizers have already faced before the trial. According to Spitalnick, Richard Spencer has called the lawsuit “financially crippling,” and other defendants have faced large financial penalties, jail time, and evidentiary sanctions. Some defendants have even talked about how this lawsuit has deterred them from participating in additional violent acts.

“When we go to trial this fall, we put these extremists on trial before a jury of Virginia residents who will finally hold them accountable,” Spitalnick said. 

The plaintiffs first filed the lawsuit in October of 2017, shortly after the attacks. The next year, the defendants moved to dismiss the lawsuit, but their motion was denied. “The Court holds the Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged the Defendants formed a conspiracy to commit the racial violence that led to the Plaintiffs’ varied injuries,” wrote Judge Norman K. Moon in an opinion at the time. 

Most recently, in June of this year, a federal court wrote that Unite the Right organizers had disobeyed a court order to provide evidence. The defendants “chose to withhold such documents because [they were] aware that such documents contained evidence that [they] conspired to plan racially-motivated violence at Unite the Right,” the court found.

A theme of the IFA panel was precedence: this trial will set a precedent to deter future individuals and groups from organizing something of this magnitude again. “We will follow you wherever you go,” Kaplan said. “We will bring lawsuits against you and we will make sure that you will never want to do anything like this again, because there will be consequences to it.”