Via Washington Post



A trial has begun for a man charged with using a flaming torch to intimidate counterprotesters during a gathering of white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, seven years ago
By Denise Lavoie | AP
June 4, 2024 at 12:45 p.m. EDT

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Years after a white nationalist rally erupted in violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, a trial began Tuesday for one of about a dozen people charged with using flaming torches to intimidate counterprotesters.

The trial of Jacob Joseph Dix, 29, of Clarksville, Ohio, got underway with jury selection. The case will provide the first test of a 2002 Virginia law that makes it a felony to burn something to intimidate and cause fear of injury or death. Lawmakers passed the law after the state Supreme Court ruled that a cross-burning statute used to prosecute Ku Klux Klan members was unconstitutional.

On the night of Aug. 11, 2017, several hundred white nationalists marched through the campus of the University of Virginia, many carrying torches and some chanting, “Jews will not replace us!” Two days of demonstrations were organized in part to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. It was believed to be the largest gathering of white nationalists in a decade.

Indictments unsealed last year showed 11 people had been charged with intimidation by fire, but prosecutors have not said whether additional defendants were also charged. So far, five people have pleaded guilty to the charge. Dix is the first to go on trial.