A civil rights lawsuit can proceed against individuals involved in last summer’s deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, a federal judge ruled Monday.
Ruling from Charlottesville federal court, U.S. Senior Judge Norman Moon wrote in a 62-page memorandum opinion that a group of local residents can continue with their case against “Unite the Right” organizer Jason Kessler and several others accused of engaging in unlawful conspiracy in violation of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, a Reconstruction-era legislation originally directed at “organized terrorism” in the post-Civil War South.
The judge agreed to dismiss one defendant, Mike Peinovich, and one plaintiff, Hannah Pearce, but otherwise allowed the lawsuit continue.
“Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged the Defendants formed a conspiracy to commit the racial violence that led to the Plaintiffs’ varied injuries,” he ruled on the defendants’ motions to dismiss.
The case will likely go to trial in 2019, attorneys for the plaintiffs said in a statement.
Filed in October by the Integrity First for America nonprofit group, the lawsuit accuses Mr. Kessler and over 20 other individuals and entities of illegally plotting in connection with his Aug. 12 “Unite the Right” rally in downtown Charlottesville and a torch-lit rally held the night before at the University of Virginia.
Violence infamously broke out at both events, and plaintiffs alleged in their lawsuit that defendants, including white nationalists and neo-Nazis, had “executed a common plan to arm themselves, travel to Charlottesville and attack minorities.”
“The Court concludes Plaintiffs have, for the most part, adequately alleged that Defendants formed a conspiracy to hurt black and Jewish individuals, and their supporters, because of their race at the August 11th and 12th events,” the judge wrote in Monday’s ruling.
Mr. Kessler, 34, did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
“The Court’s opinion is striking in its thoughtfulness and deliberateness and we are pleased that after such a careful review, the court decided our claims will move forward,” said Karen L. Dunn, an an attorney for the plaintiffs. “In America, it is not lawful to target individuals or groups for violence based on their race, ethnicity or religion.”
Brought on behalf of lead plaintiff Elizabeth Sines, a Charlottesville resident and law student, the lawsuit is one of several initiated after last year’s disastrous “Unite the Right” rally culminated in the deaths of a counterprotester, Heather Heyer, and two state troopers.
Heyer, a 32-year-old legal assistant, was killed when an automobile allegedly driven by “Unite the Right” participant James Alex Fields drove into a crowd of counterprotesters, according to police. Two troopers, meanwhile, died in a helicopter crash while monitoring the chaos.
Mr. Fields, 21, pleaded not guilty this month to federal hate crime charges related to the incident.
Mr. Kessler, meanwhile, has filed his own lawsuit in Charlottesville federal court in hopes of being able to hold another rally in town on the deadly event’s first anniversary. A hearing for that matter was set last week for later this month.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.