Thread by @ChristopherJM

Good morning from the Charlottesville federal court, where we're still waiting for a verdict in Sines v Kessler, the civil case against "Unite the Right" rally organizers. Jury is in its third day of deliberations. Several questions from jurors yesterday suggested some confusion.

There are 24 defendants, 17 of which the juror must decide on. Seven defendants have lost default judgements for refusing to participate in the lawsuit. The jury must also decide on damages for each of nine plaintiffs if they find defendants liable for UTR violent conspiracy.

Just in: Sines v Kessler jury has a question. Waiting to hear what it's going to be. First one of the day. Yesterday they had a few of them.

Jury Q: "Under punitive damages for claim three, can we separate out the amount that's awarded to individual plaintiffs?"

Judge will send this answer: "No is the answer. But only those plaintiifs who are awarded compensatory damages will share in any punitive damages awarded."

Here are screen grabs of the verdict form the jury needs to fill out. Claims 1-4 here.

Claims 5-6.

Just notified the jury has another question for Judge Moon. Stay tuned.

Hold tight. We ~might~ have a verdict in Sines v Kessler. Reporters have been called to the courtroom with the sketch artist.

Attorneys for plaintiffs and defendants are in the courtroom now. Judge Moon just took his seat on the bench. He says he has a note from the jury that suggests they've come to a verdict in the case.

Jury note reads: "We have unaniumously decided on claims 3,4,5,6. ... We are deadlocked on 1 and 2. ... We do not believe this will change."

Claims 1 and 2 are the biggest ones in the case.

Claim 1 is 'Did plaintiffs prove defendants engaged in a conspiracy to commit racially motivated violence?'

Claim 2 is 'Did plaintiffs prove defendants had knowledge of the conspiracy and fail to prevent it from taking place?'

Karen Dunn for the plaintiffs wants Judge Moon to deliver an Allen Charge on claims 1 and 2 to the jury and she has suggested language for the charge. But Moon says he has his own. Calling in the jury now.

Court clerk reading verdicts.
Claims 1 and 2: no verdict.

3: yes; found all defendants responsible for violating state law conspiracy.

Potential damages for each plaintiffs: $1 or $0 for each.

...

Punitive damages under claim 3: $500K for all defendant individuals; $1 million for organizations

Claim 4: Kessler, Spencer, Kline, Ray, Cantwell responsible.

Damages for Romero and Willis $250K each

Will add other info momentarily. Listening to Judge Moon now. He's asking jury if they think they can go back and reach a verdict on counts 1 and 2.

He asks them to rise their hands. No one raises their hand in the jury. So he says he respects their decision and sends them back to the jury room.

Moon says he's not going to give the Allen Charge. Plaintiffs say they're fine with that. The defendants are now asking the judge to reduce damages... convo ongoing.

Judge Moon says case was very civil and thanks the lawyers for their behavior. "It had the ability to not be so subtle." He says it was tough case. "I think it was all in all, no one could ask for a trial to go any better with all the potential problems this one could have had."

In total: Jury has awarded more than $25.3 million for the plaintiffs.

Here's the @IntegrityforUSA statement on the verdict:

Here are the verdict sheets, courtesy of the court media room. (One more image coming next)

So this was actually big. Violated state but not federal laws.

Karen Dunn and Roberta Kaplan for the plaintiffs outside the courthouse. They said it’s a huge victory. Kaplan let out a shout if “Yes!” As she got into her SUV with her team to leave.