Thread by @ChristopherJM

Mornin' from Charlottesville. Day 19/week 4. Big day here as closing arguments in Sines v Kessler, aka "Unite the Right" civil trial, set to begin. Plaintiffs get 2.5 hours to sum up their case to jury; defendants get 3.5 hours. Jury begins deliberations Friday. Yday thread below

https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1460975838233518081

Roberta Kaplan for the plaintiffs has started their closing argument.

Kaplan lays out their argument:
-The nature of the defendants’ conspiracy: who was in it, how it worked, how they communicated, what they did
-Defendants’ racial animus
-Defendants’ glorification of violence
-None of the defendants’ arguments work
-Plaintiffs and their damages

Kaplan thanks the jury for their time and patience and says we’re now finally ready to turn the case over to you, the jury.

"It will be up to you and the 12 of you alone to hold these defendants accountable.

Kaplan to jury: It’s up to you to show that “none of this is funny and none of it is a joke,” referencing the defendants who claimed their words were merely rhetoric and free speech, not a conspiracy. Then she hands the reins over to Karen Dunn, co-lead attorney for plaintiffs.

Dunn lays out for the jury what exactly it means to conspire and what the plaintiffs need to prove, for instance, they don’t need to prove the defendants entered into a formal agreement.

Dunn says the defendants can be part of the conspiracy without knowing all co-conspirators and all details of the plan. A single act can be enough to draw a member into the conspiracy. ...

Dunn: "You don't have to cause the violence yourself the violence just has to be reasonably foreseeable to you."

Dunn: It doesn’t matter if you're not the big fish or that you know what the big fish are doing… Once you join the conspiracy you’re liable for it at any time.
This is the law "as Judge Moon has instructed"

Dunn: Judge Moon has already found a conspiracy against Robert Azzmador Ray and Elliott Kline, Dunn reminds the jury. They were each motivated by racial animus, that the violence was foreseeable by them, and they ratified the violence afterward.

Dunn: So we’re here to show you who ratified the violence as well and knew it was foreseeable.

Dunn begins showing their evidence, pointing to Jason Kessler’s Discord posts. "I think we need to have a Battle of Berkeley situation in Charlottesville…and fight this shit out."

Dunn says the white supremacists saw an opportunity to get out of the shadows with Unite the Right. They took inspiration from the Battle of Berkeley, which was a street fight. All the talk about getting a permit was talk. The point was to "fight the shit out in the streets."

Dunn now focused on Richard Spencer, reading his own words about politics = violence. She says he "speaks well but says the same things" as the other guys "Occupying space means physically, by force…"
"Politics is...about force."
etc.

Dunn's going one by one through the defendants and showing how they communicated with one another to plan and execute Unite the Right together, showing their own messages and social media posts.

Dunn’s next segment is “Tools of the conspiracy” and she shows slides of “shields, mace (gas), street brawls, flag poles.”

Brief reminder ... Dunn tells the jury “You don’t need to be James Fields to be held liable for the injuries in the car attack.” This comes from the jury instructions from Judge Moon.

Dunn shows Discord post where Matthew Heimbach says he wants to have a secret convo about shields off Discord. She shows messages explaining Heimbach and his group planned to use shields to move counterprotesters from Emancipation Park.

Dunn reads messages between Dillon Hopper and Robert "Azzmador" Ray that say, "Gas the k*kes, race war now." She says, "This wasn't a catchphrase, ladies and gentlemen, this was an actual plan," referring to their discussion about and the actual use of mace at Unite the Right.

More on “overt acts.” Dunn says, One clue that the conspiracy members knew what they were doing was violent and wrong, was they didn’t tell police they would march around UVA campus with lit torches and racist chants. ...

...But they did tell white supremacists on Discord to order their torches online in advance and bring them to Charlottesville.

After a short break, Kaplan is back up. She's focusing on the racial, ethnic, or religious animus that motivated the defendants.

Kaplan spoke about the racist hatred that motivated the defendants, by using their own testimonies, social media posts, and manifestos against them.

She asked for $7-10 million in damages for the plaintiffs’ physical injuries and $3-5 million for their pain and suffering.

“You can also award punitive damages,” said Kaplan, adding that the amount of those would be purely up to the jury. “What would it take to ensure that defendants and their co-conspirators never, ever do anything like this again?”

James Kolenich, attorney for defendants Jason Kessler, Nathan Damigo, and Identity Evropa, told the jury that the injuries the plaintiffs suffered and evidence of racism on social media doesn’t prove a conspiracy.

“They’ve proven to you the alt-right is the alt-right. They’re racists, they’re antisemites,” said Kolenich. “You knew that when you walked in here. But what does that do to prove a conspiracy?”

Kolenich argued that the defendants “didn’t agree to attack anybody offensively, and there is no evidence that they did.” Rather, he said, the defendants conspired only to provoke “antifa” into violence so that there would be “an actual legal reason” to fight in Charlottesville.

David Campbell, atty for James Fields, previously convicted of murdering Heyer, used his time to argue about the cost of potential damages. Fields, who is in prison for life, doesn’t need to be financially punished to deter him from committing any more violent acts, he said.

Richard Spencer up, arguing on his own behalf because he doesn't have an attorney. He begins by saying "Well this is the end of the road" and that he's "grateful" this happened. "At some point, a lawsuit would arise that directly touched on what you could call extreme rhetoric."

White nationalism is about family. It's about us. It's about being a part of something bigger than yourself..." Spencer tells the jury. "It's something I'm willing to risk quite a bit for."

Oh boy. Judge Moon just scolded Spencer for using Trump's "very fine people on both sides" words. Moon says "we're not going back to law school here." No evidence of what Trump said so he can't refer to the ex-prez. Spencer moves on, phrases in his own words.

Spencer is telling the jury about goats dying. I'm a bit lost now.

One of Spencer's tactics appears to be name-checking ancient thinkers and philosophers to show the jury he's a well-read guy.

Oh, and now he's talking about Jesus, "a radical, an extremist."

Amazing moment. Judge Moon interrupts. "Where are we going?"

Spencer erupts. "You can't cut me off when I'm just getting going!"

Spencer tells the judge, "This is difficult, and I'm going to finish."

"Jesus..." he begins again.

OK. Spencer is finished. He tells the court it's in their hands now.

My report from the courthouse on closing arguments so far: buzzfeednews.com/article/christ…

Defense attorney Bryan Jones' argument boils down to this: The plaintiffs' case is a conspiracy theory.

William Edward ReBrook up now, atty for National Socialist Movement and its former leader Jeff Schoep. He says this trial has been stressful for him. "I told my wife the other night this is my Iraq War and I was in the Iraq War."

ReBrook is now talking about — any guesses? — The Grassy Knoll in Dallas, which he once visited with his father. Why? Dunno.

Judge Moon stops him. "ReBrook, I don't know where you're going with this. Let's stick to the case."

ReBrook says his clients didn't take part in any conspiracy. There doesn't seem to be a real argument he's making here to prove that. Except he's saying they have racist views, which aren't a crime. "We don't have thought crime in this country...you can like Hitler."

ReBrook says his clients were engaged in a conspiracy to the extent to which they discussed dress code for the rally.

Joshua Smith, atty for Trad Worker Party, Matthew Parrott and Matthew Heimbach, is making his argument now. He says they've never hid their faces or beliefs. He says their org's slogan is "Local solutions for the globalist problem" and they've always had "peaceful rallies."

Smith says his clients joined the rally but never conspired to commit racially motivated violence. He shows a slide that reads: "Any number X 0 = 0" He says it doesn't matter how many things the plaintiffs show you it amounts to "zero."

Smith shows an antisemitic video of Heimbach talking about "white genocide" and "globalists." He says this is why they took part in Unite the Right.

Holy cow. This video of Matthew Heimbach is nothing more than neo-nazi propaganda and a recruitment piece. It's filled with conspiracy theories and it's being played in full right now in federal court.

And we haven't even heard from Cantwell yet. He's coming up to the podium now. Fasten your seatbelts.

"Hello. As you're entirely too well aware by now, my name is Christopher Cantwell."

He says flatly he did commit racially motivated violence and the jury knows this "because you've been paying attention."

Cantwell says he wouldn't have risked his gun permit (which has since been taken away) just "to punch some communist degenerate."

CORRECTION: Typo. It should say “DIDN’T commit racially motivated violence.”

Cantwell, raising his voice, reads from his old blog posts where he claims his words there show he wasn't promoting violence at Unite the Right. He says his podcast is an entertainment program.

Cantwell says the plaintiffs can't prove he committed racially motivated violence in part because there was no evidence of him punching them on Aug. 11-12. "You saw me punch a white man," he says.

Cantwell rambling.... Now brings up how one of the plaintiffs, a pastor, mentioned Jesus was "antifa."
"Jesus says turn the other cheek, antifa says watch your fucking back," Cantwell says in court as he wraps up his closing argument.

Karen Dunn for the plaintiffs is back up with rebuttal. She's got 15 minutes. She shows a post by Cantwell that reads: "If you think the Alt Right is insignificant you might want to ask the bleeding commie filth we sent to the morgue and hospitals how insignificant we are."

Dunn says this Cantwell post means violence happened at Charlottesville, it was foreseeable, and it was part of a racially motivated violent conspiracy.

Dunn hammers home what she mentioned this morning: All you need to do to be part of the conspiracy is to join it on one occasion and to have one conspirator take an overt act. Conspirators can do things at different times.

Dunn: "You saw the posts all over the place about [the defendants] talking about hitting people with cars."

She says defendants tried to argue James Fields wasn't part of the conspiracy but he was invited to march with Vanguard America & accepted. "That is an agreement."

Dunn accidentally shows the jury a verdict form with the 'guilty' verdict box (a 'yes' beside the conspiracy question) already checked. Oops! The defense asks a blank form to be shown.

Dunn closes: Ladies and gentlemen, I can't appropriately express my gratitude...

Please look at the law, please apply it to the evidence you saw. Thank you.

Judge Moon now tells the jury they'll recess for the day and reconvene tomorrow morning at 9am to begin deliberations.

“Sad Spencer”? Former alt-right leader now living with his mom and unable to afford an attorney to defend him while on trial in Charlottesville for allegedly conspiring with other white supremacists to commit racially motivated violence posts this pic ahead of jury deliberations.