‘Unite the Right’ on Trial in Charlottesville

Charlottesville, VA – After four long years of litigation the lawsuit trial against leading white supremacist organizers and groups kicked off on October 25, 2021 at the federal courthouse in Charlottesville, Virginia. Attorneys for victims of the “Unite the Right” racist attacks sought justice in a civil lawsuit.

Called ‘Sines v. Kessler’ for short, the trial was held just a few blocks from where convicted defendant James Alex Fields killed Heather Heyer and injured dozens more, including several plaintiffs in the case. Our live messages from the trial covered 19 days of court activity.

The lawsuit sought to prove that the white supremacists were motivated by ‘racial animus’, and organized premeditated violence, which is unlawful and actionable under the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act.

In the end the jury delivered a split verdict: the defendants were found “jointly and severally liable for damages from a racially motivated conspiracy to harass, intimidate and commit violence” as plaintiffs’ attorneys describe it. Default judgments hit Andrew Anglin, Moonbase Holdings, LLC, East Coast Knights of the Klu Klux Klan, Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and the Nationalist Front. The jury deadlocked on two counts, failing to determine if defendants had violated federal law in a racist conspiracy. All the defendants were found liable under Virginia’s civil conspiracy law; the jury awarded $500,000 in punitive damages against individuals and $1 million against each organization for that charge. On the fourth count, all the individual defendants were guilty on race-based harassment or violence, with another $200,000 in damages set on each. Lastly, James Alex Fields, who killed Heather Heyer and injured several plaintiffs, was liable for assault and battery and intentional infliction of harm, an additional $12 million in damages. This added up to more than $25 million in damages, of which $2 million was compensatory damages.

The trial judge later reduced the punitive damages to $350,000 total. On appeal in summer 2024 the Fourth Circuit affirmed the conspiracy verdict and reinstated $2.8 million in punitive damages based on their interpretations of Virginia state law. (The full 27-page opinion is here.)

Unicorn Riot covered the infamous 2017 Charlottesville rally, and obtained hundreds of thousands of chats among the far-right organizers and participants which we published in our Discord Leaks data journalism collection. Check out our Far-Right Investigations Desk page for an introduction to our coverage of “Unite the Right” and related stories.

We covered this trial closely – with live tweets from the press room. Note these tweets, compiled into the notes available below, were composed rapidly and were intended to capture the gist of what transpired in court over those 19 days, but isn’t an exact transcript.

Tuning in to the Trial • Judge Moon • Documents • Previous UR Coverage

Unite The Right On Trial:

Rush transcripts: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 | Day 16

Read Unicorn Riot's live tweets from trial proceedings - Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 | Day 16 | Day 17 | Day 18 | Day 19

Additional Resources via Integrity First For America: Trial & Deposition Video Transcripts • Searchable Database of Plaintiff’s Trial Exhibits

Watch our stream from outside the federal courthouse after closing arguments on Thursday, November 18, 2021:

Unicorn Riot Stories on ‘Sines v. Kessler’ – Most recent first:

Tuning in to the Trial

Visual press access was limited to around a dozen seats for reporters in the courthouse’s grand jury room, which granted access to a single low-resolution video camera feed. A teleconference line was hosted by AT&T usually giving audio access to the general public. The dial-in number for court audio was (888) 808-6929 and the code is 4334643 (followed by a # pound sign).

Besides the socially-distanced press room, there were two private rooms in the courthouse for supporters of the plaintiffs and the defendants.

The Judge

Judge Norman K. Moon is the senior judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. Born in 1936, he was between 84 and 85 years old and was appointed by President Bill Clinton.

Earlier in the case, Magistrate Judge Joel Hoppe made rulings on motions by both sides.

The Plaintiffs

The plaintiffs claimed harm and sought damages in this case. They were Elizabeth Sines, Seth Wispelwey, Marissa Blair, Tyler Magill, April Muniz, Hannah Pearce, Marcus Martin, Natalie Romero, and Chelsea Alverado. Seven of the plaintiffs were injured in the car attack by James Alex Fields, Jr. Others were assaulted and injured during events surrounding Unite The Right on August 11-12, 2017.

The Defendants

The defendants named in the final version of the suit were generally high-level players in the American white nationalist subculture at the time. They included Jason Kessler, Richard Spencer, Christopher Cantwell, James Alex Fields, Jr., Vanguard America, Andrew Anglin, Moonbase Holdings, LLC, Robert “Azzmador” Ray, Nathan Damigo, Elliott Kline aka Eli Mosley, Identity Evropa, Matthew Heimbach, Matthew Parrott aka David Matthew Parrott, Traditionalist Worker Party, Michael Hill, Michael Tubbs, League of the South, Jeff Schoep, National Socialist Movement, Nationalist Front, Augustus Sol Invictus, Fraternal Order of the Alt-Knights, Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and East Coast Knights of the Ku Klux Klan aka East Coast Knights of the True Invisible Empire. Disgraced podcaster Michael “Enoch” Peinovich was previously a defendant in the case but managed to get himself dropped.

Documents

This trial generated a huge volume of material. Thousands of separate exhibits, including text messages, emails, phone carrier locations, and much more have been entered by the plaintiffs.

The case is designated 3:17-cv-00072-NKM-JCH in the federal court filing system, and documents are available on services including PACER, Clearinghouse.net, Justia and CourtListener.

Dozens of additional court filings are on the Integrity First for America filings page.

Previous Unicorn Riot Coverage

For more check out the Far-Right Investigations Desk and our Discord Leaks data journalism server.

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