The jury found the white nationalists violated Virginia state laws, but they could not reach a verdict on federal conspiracy charges. A Charlottesville jury found several of the most high-profile white supremacist leaders and organizations in the United States violated state civil rights laws by conspiring to commit racially motivated violence at the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally — and ordered them to pay more than $25 million in damages to their victims. The 11 jurors came to the decision on Tuesday after a four-week civil trial that was punctuated with emotional victim testimony, descriptions of horrific violence, and bizarre outbursts that sometimes sounded more like Nazi propaganda than courtroom dialogue. The rally left dozens wounded and one anti-racism activist dead. The jury was not able to reach a unanimous decision on federal conspiracy charges, however. (…) The mixed verdict in the landmark trial comes amid a resurgence of far-right domestic violent extremism and the mainstreaming of these ideologies, ushered in by Donald Trump. The former president’s hyperpolarizing populism, nationalism, and racist rhetoric has enabled his followers — and some elected Republicans — to endorse violence, including an attack on the US Capitol in January. For years, the legal system has struggled to hold these far-right extremists accountable for their actions. President Joe Biden, who said it was the racial violence in Charlottesville that convinced him to run against Trump, has made combatting far-right domestic violent extremism a top priority of his administration. (…) The violence reached a bloody crescendo on the rally’s second day when neo-Nazi James Fields rammed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters as they marched down a narrow street. At least 19 people were badly injured, including several plaintiffs in the lawsuit, and activist Heather Heyer was killed. Fields, one of the defendants, previously pleaded guilty to murdering Heyer and is serving a life sentence in prison.
via buzzfeed: A Charlottesville Jury Ordered White Nationalists To Pay $25 Million To Victims Of The “Unite The Right” Rally
