Charlottesville Trial Recap 11/8 and 11/9

cva.jpg The following are dispatches from reporter Trey Garrison that summarize proceedings in Sines v. Kessler from Monday and Tuesday. 
 

Charlottesville Trial Part IX: Plaintiffs Land Serious Blows with Dillon Hopper, Pistolis Depositions; Cantwell Manages to Undermine Plaintiff Witness Credibility

Plaintiffs’ attorneys scored probably their heaviest hits in Sines v Kessler on Monday, the eleventh day of Charlottesville trial, with the video deposition of former Vanguard America member Dillon Hopper as well as an Atomwaffen member who was at Unite the Right in August 2017. 

Hopper, a former U.S. Marine, said in his deposition that Vanguard America never kept track of membership and members often used pseudonyms, which plaintiffs used to imply that he couldn’t necessarily say James Fields, the driver who was involved in a fatal car accident that Saturday in 2017, wasn’t a member.

Hopper said that former Vanguard America member Thomas Rousseau allowed Fields to march with Vanguard despite the fact that no one knew who he was because he wanted Vanguard to look like a larger, more powerful group for the event.

Hopper testified in his deposition without benefit of legal counsel. 

Hopper’s lack of representation and apparent common sense lead him into a number of plaintiffs’ traps, including a disturbing number of messages and posts with seemingly violent content that should have been contextualized as memes or jokes, but which Hopper failed to do. In fact Hopper came across as appearing serious about wanting violent outcomes in the political White nationalist struggle.

How much the jury will hold Hopper’s statements against the defendants remains to be seen, as does whether defendants will be able to provide context later, or at least distance themselves from his statements, communications and posts. 

Later in the day, there was additional video deposition from Atomwaffen member and Daily Stormer book club member Vassillios Pistolis, also a former Marine, that established Pistolis, among others, was violent and crossed many lines. Pistolis pled the fifth amendment on whether he made posts advocating violence against synagogues, or whether League of the South chief of staff Michael Tubbs wanted him to “crack skulls.”

All in all, these are damaging in that they establish that there were bad actors among Unite the Right protesters, who themselves harbor violent tendencies or advocate violence, but it did nothing to establish a conspiracy amongst the defendants to commit racially motivated violence. 

After Hopper’s deposition was played for the jury, plaintiffs’ attorney Alan Levine questioned defendant Tubbs, former chief of staff for League of the South. 

Levine, in a grating and nebbish manner, tried to imply that League of the South marchers were “soldiers” looking for a fight. 

Tubbs wisely objected to Levine’s characterization of League protesters as “soldiers,” as well as Levine singling out the use of “flags, shields and poles” and marching as a single parade as militant behavior. 

Tubbs said it was “ridiculous” when Levine suggested protesters would have been safer walking by themselves without helmets or shields for protection.

Levine’s tone fairly dripped contempt and his constant, dramatic “Isn’t it a fact…” spiel may not play well with the jury of largely ruralite, blue collar Southern blacks and Whites.

Levine kept insisting that Tubbs and League of the South were looking for a fight, when Tubbs landed a solid counter.

“For anyone who has never had their nose broken in a fight, which I suspect there are a few of you present, no one wants to be in a fight if they can avoid it,” Tubbs said.

Greg Conte of the National Justice Party, observing the proceedings, said, “Plaintiffs’ attorney Levine is arguing that League of the South should have expected to be attacked because they approached the park as a group, wearing helmets and carrying shields. This is pretty much ‘she looked like she wanted it.’”

After technical difficulties with Zoom, Tubbs was temporarily dismissed, and plaintiffs call plaintiff Marissa Blair, a lawyer who said she was emotionally injured in Fields’ fatal car accident, and that her marriage failed because of the trauma.

Blair’s ex-husband, Marcus Martin, a violent convicted felon, was hit by Fields’ car. Blair was friends with Heather Heyer, the Antifa activist who was hit and killed by Fields while blocking traffic by standing in the road.

Blair clarifies that she was not hit by the car. She has minor physical injuries and is claiming emotional distress.

Blair monetized the events of Unite the Right, appearing on national media like the Ellen DeGeneres Show and being given an all-expenses paid weddingh, noted defendant James Kessler.

On cross-examination, pro se defendant Christopher Cantwell uncovered a number of inconsistencies and falsehoods in her testimony. 

Like many witnesses in this trial and others, Blair downplayed violence by counter-protesters, saying she saw amongst counter-protesters no weapons, no identifying bandanas or banners, and a simple “joyous” atmosphere.

That adjective “joyous” has been used uniformly and repeatedly by a number of witnesses in this trial and others to depict the counter-protesters as innocent. 

Cantwell played video pointing out the communist flags in the crowd to the witness, and the chanting “Whose streets! Our streets?” which would seem a domination ritual of which defendant Richard Spencer was accused last week. 

He also pointed out that her boyfriend at the time, Martin, had a black bandanna tied around his water bottle. He pointed out all the helmets, banners and flagpoles – which plaintiffs accuse defendants of using as weapons – demonstrating it was anything but innocent and joyful. He pointed out counter-protesters right next to Blair with baseball bats and other implements as well as the sea of red Antifa/communist bandanas.

Cantwell wasn’t able to get it into testimony that Martin was convicted of home invasion and armed robbery, but perhaps his best shot came when he completely undermined Blair’s credibility as a witness and a plaintiff. 

Under plaintiffs’ questioning, Blair said that her emotional damage included her divorce as well as the fact that she hadn’t “been able to read a book” since 2017. 

Cantwell noted she had attended law school since 2017 and passed the bar in October 2021. 

“I didn’t have to read to pass the bar,” she testified under oath, incredulously. 

Defense attorney Bryan Jones then crossed Michael Tubbs after the technical problems with his Zoom were resolved. He contextualized a lot of what Levine had obnoxiously tried to paint earlier in the day. 

On his Telegram, Dr. Michael Hill, head of League of the South, said, “Michael Tubbs, my Chief of Staff, is finishing up his testimony in Charlottesville. I have never been prouder of him in the twenty-plus years he’s been a League member. Hail to you, Sir, for being as bold as a lion when standing against our enemies. It is my honor to stand beside you, then and now, as well as in any future contests in which we may find ourselves engaged. May our God give us victory.”

The videotaped deposition of Rousseau was also entered into evidence by plaintiffs. Rousseau handled himself ably and offered little, though they were able to get him to verify a photo of a Vanguard America member handing Fields a VA shield, the sole thing plaintiffs have linking Fields to any other defendant.

As always, National Justice cautions readers that how testimony and evidence is received by outside observers is not necessarily how a jury will receive it. Predicting the outcome of a jury trial is always problematic for that reason. 

The trial was originally expected to last two more weeks including this week, but word in the court room is now that it will go longer. 

This is a civil trial and the jury consists of 12 members with no alternates. Jurors could drop out or be dismissed, but as long as six remain there can be a verdict. 

The standard of finding here is a preponderance of the evidence, not beyond a reasonable doubt. A finding of liability in this court would require a unanimous verdict.

At heart in this case, is the 10 plaintiffs and their attorneys who allege that the defendants “conspired to commit racially motivated violence” at the legally permitted Unite the Right rally held in August 2017. The 2017 lawsuit – amended in 2019 – lists 20 White nationalist organizations and individuals, including the Daily Stormer’s Andrew Anglin, Matt Parrot, Matt Heimbach, Jason Kessler, Richard Spencer, Christopher Cantwell, the League of the South, the National Socialist Movement, the defunct Traditional Workers Party and Identity Evropa, and at least two chapters of the Ku Klux Klan. 

Charlottesville Trial Part X: Plaintiffs Spend Yet Another Day in Meandering Interrogation, Frustrating Judge Moon and Extending Trial at Least An Extra Week

Plaintiffs’ attorneys started the day strong in Sines v Kessler on Tuesday, but quickly lost any momentum they had built up since Monday in this, the third week of the Charlottesville trial, with defendant Matthew Parrot of the former Traditionalist Workers Party taking the stand for a long, tedious and largely meandering interrogation by plaintiffs’ attorney Michael Bloch. 

Before Parrot took the stand, plaintiffs’ attorney called plaintiff Chelsea Alvarado, who says she was injured in James Fields’ car accident after the Aug. 12, 2017 Unite the Right rally. 

As with other plaintiffs so far, Alvarado described the scene in the most positively spun light – portraying counter-protesters as unarmed, peaceful, joyous and non-confrontational. 

However, under withering cross-examination from pro se defendant Christopher Cantwell, Alvarado’s picture-perfect memory wilted. He noted she was pictured in video as marching right along with violent anarchists, DSA members and Antifa wearing red bandanas, carrying Antifa flags on flagpoles that were used as weapons, and baseball bats. 

It’s also notable that Alvarado has scrubbed all of her social media, claiming she has no idea what Antifa or DSA were at the time of the event, even though she drove for hours with friends to join the counter-protest. 

As noted, fundamentally the plaintiffs do not have any concrete damages to point to other than medical expenses related to the James Fields incident. And they have basically been unable to connect James Fields to any of the defendants except Vanguard, and even then only very tangentially, as they entered evidence Monday that Fields was given a Vanguard America shield to carry even though he wasn’t a member of the organization. 

After Alvarado, Parrot took the stand. 

Parrot, a self-admitted introvert widely known for his intelligent, earnest and gentle bearing, was put on his back foot early by Bloch’s continued use of gotcha questions, word games and leading questions. 

However, as the morning proceeded, Bloch’s tactics – which he displayed last week in another tedious interrogation of pro se defendant Richard Spencer – bore less fruit. 

Parrot seemed to learn on the fly as the questions wore on, getting the better of Bloch on a number of times, providing proper context for quotes Bloch would cite, or ensuring that Bloch couldn’t spin events and statements to the plaintiffs advantage. 

NJP Secretary Warren Balogh expressed his disgust at Bloch’s interrogation.

“The idea that Matt Parrott conspired to do racially-motivated violence is absurd on its face.  Parrott is a nice guy with a terrific sense of justice for the downtrodden,” Balogh wrote on Telegram. “He’s always been an advocate for the working class and the disadvantaged. He’s also a very polite and humble man.

“Michael Bloch is the embodiment of Jewish wealth and privilege. His arrogance and insolence are exceeded only by his cruelty and boundless amoral ambition,” Balogh continued. “Bloch views downtrodden and working class White people like those Parrott has championed not only with contempt, but sadistic malice.”

“Wealthy and powerful Jews like Bloch always play the role of victim or as champions of justice, even as they use their power to victimize the innocent and persecute the just,” Balogh said.

Nitpicking, parsing words, taking sentences out of context and taking jokes literally is all it appeared Michael Bloch had, aside from his trying to prejudice the jury by painting Parrot a “Holocaust” denier and “Nazi.”

Parrot’s attorney, Josh Smith, likewise got into several tangles with Bloch, going about 50/50 or better on objections.

Things got bad for Bloch as president U.S. District Court Judge Norman K. Moon increasingly expressed exasperation with Bloch. 

At one point, during an interjection over an objection, Bloch said to Moon, “Just a minute your honor. It’s important we’re accurate here.”

Moon shot back, “Don’t make such comments. The jury will decide what’s important.”

At another time it appeared Bloch realized he was floundering and hoped for a break. 

He told Judge Moon, he was, “Happy to keep going, or we can take a break.”

Judge Moon again seemed contemptuous. 

“It’s not time for a break, son,” Judge Moon said. 

Later when Bloch tried to bring up issues of legal fundraising – implying that raising funds for legal defense was somehow morally and legally suspect – and about convictions of various protesters and counter-protesters, Judge Moon again came down hard on Bloch.

“It’s not proper! It’s not proper! You were warned about it already!” Judge Moon admonished. 

Bloch also brought up how certain defendants’ phones were either lost or broken in the ensuing years since UTR, presenting it as proof of a conspiracy. 

Late in the afternoon, Bloch made yet another tactical error in his questioning, and abruptly rested after Judge Moon ordered a 20-minute recess. 

The Western Chauvinist Telegram channel summarized the Bloch/Parrot interrogation thusly:

“Michael Bloch’s examination of Parrot is getting worse for him the longer it goes.  He’s getting chastised repeatedly by the judge, and he doesn’t seem to remember that he already asked several questions.  Bloch is repeatedly treading the same territory over and over again. He is arguing minutiae that would’ve been better left alone.  It’s become so long and boring that it would be hard for the jury to even remember the gains Bloch made in the beginning.”

After Bloch rested, on cross-examination from defendant Jason Kessler’s lawyer, James Kolenich, who attempted to further separate Kessler from TWP by pointing out that Parrot’s sworn statement in another issue saying Identity Evropa and Kessler were “sending fighters” to assist TWP members at Market Street wasn’t factually correct. Parrot had previously corrected his statement. 

Spencer then crossed Parrot, establishing that while Parrot had submitted some columns to his website a decade or more ago, he was never paid for his writing, nor had ever worked for Spencer, and that Spencer was never involved with or a member of TWP or the Nationalist Front. 

Notably on cross by the other defense attorneys and defendants, Bloch tried again and again to object to Parrot’s statements, but he was shot down by Judge Moon. 

Pro se defendant Cantwell once again undercut Bloch’s attempt to portray obvious jokes as serious statements, notably saying, “Let’s ruin the joke by explaining it,” and proceeded to do so. 

Cantwell overcame more dismissed objections from Bloch, establishing that UTR was not an exclusively “White nationalist” event, but one designed to unite various factions of the right wing including the alt lite, the AltRight, paleocons and others. 

Cantwell continued to contextualize other statements in Parrot’s direct examination, to which Bloch regularly objected and to which Judge Moon exasperatedly overruled. 

Finally, Cantwell’s questioned helped Parrott to rehabilitate his testimony about disabling social media, confirming that it was about member safety as it does not delete the data.

Smith, in his cross of his client, Parrot, lead his client through the history of TWP’s involvement in other events, and how the common denominator among those he considered successful were getting media coverage and avoiding violence.

Bloch repeatedly tried to throw Smith off with objections, and while many were sustained, Smith was able to have Parrot make the point that TWP’s successful events were all peaceful. 

Smith had Parrot go through the safety and security policies TWP had for events, showing that the group was instructed not to be provocative to any counter-protesters, and that they must follow the law and de-escalate conflict. In fact they had written instructions to those points for members in two emails. 

“If the enemy comes to oppose us, we must under all circumstances follow the law,” one email read. “If we are attacked, we will follow the law” but members were not to engage in instigation.

Bloch – perhaps because of his congenital orientation and owing to projection – had tried previously to imply that somehow, TWP meant those orders to mean the exact opposite of what they actually said.

In the last 10 minutes of the day’s proceedings the audio cut out, but reports from people in the court room said the rest of Smith’s cross was largely along the same lines. 

Because of the plaintiffs’ attorneys torturous and lengthy witness interrogations, word is that the trial will be extended at least another week, and the scheduled break for the Veteran’s Day holiday on Thursday Nov. 11 will be canceled. 

As always, National Justice cautions readers that how testimony and evidence is received by outside observers is not necessarily how a jury will receive it. Predicting the outcome of a jury trial is always problematic for that reason. 

The trial was originally expected to last two more weeks including this week, but word in the court room is now that it will go longer. 

This is a civil trial and the jury consists of 12 members with no alternates. Jurors could drop out or be dismissed, but as long as six remain there can be a verdict. 

The standard of finding here is a preponderance of the evidence, not beyond a reasonable doubt. A finding of liability in this court would require a unanimous verdict.

At heart in this case, is the 10 plaintiffs and their attorneys who allege that the defendants “conspired to commit racially motivated violence” at the legally permitted Unite the Right rally held in August 2017. The 2017 lawsuit – amended in 2019 – lists 20 White nationalist organizations and individuals, including the Daily Stormer’s Andrew Anglin, Matt Parrot, Matt Heimbach, Jason Kessler, Richard Spencer, Christopher Cantwell, the League of the South, the National Socialist Movement, the defunct Traditional Workers Party and Identity Evropa, and at least two chapters of the Ku Klux Klan. 
 

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