White supremacists found liable in deadly Virginia rally
Jury awards $26M in damages against 12 people, 5 groups
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, Virginia, in 2017, a jury has ruled.
The jury did not reach a verdict on two federal conspiracy charges, but did find every defendant 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 a crowd of counterprotesters with his car during the rally 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. But they deadlocked on two federal claims of a race-based conspiracy, while agreeing there was a conspiracy under Virginia state law and that the victims were entitled to compensation.
Nine people who said they suffered physical and emotional harm filed the lawsuit, which is underpinned by a Reconstruction-era statute designed to protect newly emancipated Black people from the Ku Klux
Klan. Four of the plaintiffs were struck in the car attack, including Marcus Martin, who was captured in that moment of terror, midair and tumbling over the car. He had pushed his then-fiancée and another plaintiff in this suit, Marissa Blair, out of the way.
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 of the 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 because of his attack, as well as $12 million in punitive damages, for a total of $13.5 million for those two counts alone, in addition to the $500,000 from the conspiracy count.
After the verdict was read, James Kolenich, who represents two defendants and the group Identity Evropa, said he will try to reduce the damages in future hearings.
In a statement, Amy Spitalnick, executive director of the civil rights group behind the lawsuit, said, “We are committed to ensuring our plaintiffs can collect on these judgments — and that the defendants cannot escape liability.”
Outside the courthouse after the verdict was delivered, plaintiffs’ lawyers Karen Dunn and Roberta Kaplan claimed victory and appeared relieved by the jury’s decision.
But they also indicated that they planned to try the defendants again on the two federal civil rights claims that left the jury divided. “We intend to get a verdict on those counts,” Kaplan said. “We think that is a resounding verdict today and frankly a good sign for the future on the remaining counts,” Dunn added.