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Virginia
Related: About this forumTrial begins for man charged in 2017 Charlottesville torch rally at the University of Virginia
Via Washington Post
![](https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/3OYM6IRCFAI67PENVCXGDOCN3Y.jpg)
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.
![](https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/3OYM6IRCFAI67PENVCXGDOCN3Y.jpg)
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.
https://wapo.st/3yOiFsR gift link
The wheels of justice turn slowly. Locally we are following this trial.
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Trial begins for man charged in 2017 Charlottesville torch rally at the University of Virginia (Original Post)
Yonnie3
Jun 2024
OP
3Hotdogs
(13,089 posts)1. What were the sentences of the dolts that pled guilty?
Yonnie3
(17,912 posts)2. I don't recall the exact sentences other than these
Here is a report on the non-sentence received by Colton Fears. This one pissed me off.
Colton Gene Fears, a 35-year-old resident of Pasadena, Texas, was sentenced Friday to five years behind bars. But that sentenced was drastically reduced by presiding Judge Claude Worrell, effectively rendering Fears' sentence the shortest of any of the participants who have thus far pleaded guilty to using fire to racially intimidate the night of Aug. 11, 2017.
"All suspended but time served," according to the clerk's worksheet filed in Albemarle County Circuit Court.
That means Fears got a little more than a month in jail, as the court record indicates that he was arrested Sept. 14 and released on bail when he pleaded guilty on Oct. 24. His personal recognizance bail allowed him to return home to Texas.
"All suspended but time served," according to the clerk's worksheet filed in Albemarle County Circuit Court.
That means Fears got a little more than a month in jail, as the court record indicates that he was arrested Sept. 14 and released on bail when he pleaded guilty on Oct. 24. His personal recognizance bail allowed him to return home to Texas.
from https://dailyprogress.com/news/local/crime-courts/texas-man-who-participated-in-2017-torch-wielding-mob-at-uva-sentenced/article_bb15a432-21c8-11ef-9a70-df08100fdea3.html
His brother - William Henry Fears IV got a year which is the longest sentence. He has other pending court cases elsewhere.
see https://dailyprogress.com/news/local/crime-courts/a-year-for-fears-texas-man-gets-a-year-for-role-in-2017-torch-wielding/article_8f1d7d4e-0cc1-11ef-8f27-a367de14fd12.html
Tiki Torch Roundup: Guilty Pleas
Molly Conger
Sep 10, 2023 8 min read
https://the-devils-advocates.ghost.io/torch-pleas/
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https://x.com/socialistdogmom is Molly Conger's twitter/X account
We lived in the same neighborhood until I moved in January.
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https://the-devils-advocates.ghost.io/ is completely about this hate march.