Jury finds white supremacists are liable in fatal rally

No verdict reached on two federal conspiracy counts

Prominent white supremacists Richard Spencer, Jason Kessler, Christopher Cantwell and others engaged in a conspiracy to intimidate, harass or harm in advance of the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, a jury has ruled.

The jury did not reach a verdict on two federal conspiracy charges, but did find that every defendant was liable for civil conspiracy under Virginia law.

The jury then awarded a total of $26 million in damages against the 12 individual defendants and five white nationalist organizations on trial.

More than half that money is owed by James A. Fields Jr., who is serving a life sentence for ramming into a crowd with his car and killing Heather Heyer.

The 11 jurors needed only to find “a preponderance of the evidence,” rather than the higher bar of “beyond reasonable doubt” in criminal trials.

Nine people who said they suffered physical and emotional harm filed the suit.

Of the damages granted, more than $14 million was assessed against Fields.

For engaging in a conspiracy to harm, harass or intimidate, each of the 12 defendants was ordered to pay $500,000, and five white supremacist organizations were ordered to pay $1 million per group, for a total of $11 million. Fields was included in the 12 defendants ordered to pay $500,000.

For engaging in racial, religious or ethnic harassment or violence, five defendants were ordered to collectively pay two plaintiffs $500,000 in compensation for their injuries as well as $1 million in punitive damages.

Two counts were specific to Fields. He was ordered to pay more than $1.5 million to compensate plaintiffs for the physical and emotional injuries they suffered, as well as $12 million in punitive damages, for a total of $13.5 million for those two counts alone, in addition to $500,000 from the conspiracy count.