A jury awarded more than $25 million in damages after finding a group of white nationalists liable on four of six counts of violence that erupted during the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.
The civil lawsuit was filed by nine people who were injured physically and emotionally over the two days of demonstrations, which took place on August 11 and August 12, 2017.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys Roberta Kaplan and Karen Dunn said:
We are thrilled that the jury has delivered a verdict in favor of our plaintiffs, finally giving them the justice they deserve after the horrific weekend of violence and intimidation in August 2017.
Today’s verdict sends a loud and clear message that facts matter, the law matters, and that the laws of this this country will not tolerate the use of violence to deprive racial and religious minorities of the basic right we all share to live as free and equal citizens.
Unite the Right White nationalists descended on the city to protest the removal of a Confederate General Robert E. Lee statue.
They chanted, “Jews will not replace us,” as they surrounded those who were protesting against them and flung tiki torches their way.
The next day, avowed white nationalist James Alex Fields Jr. drove his car into a crowd of counter-protestors killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer.
Fields is now serving a life sentence in prison for murder and hate crimes.
Read more at CNN.
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