Charlottesville Trial Part XIV: Kessler and Cantwell Called by Plaintiffs; The Spencer/Kessler War Erupts on the Stand

On Monday, Nov. 15, the plaintiffs still had not rested in Sines v Kessler despite being given an extra day and an extra week, to which even US District Court Judge Norman K. Moon warned plaintiff, “The jury is getting mad.”

The highlight of Monday was, as usual, pro se defendant Christopher Cantwell being called by the plaintiffs, as well as defendant and UTR organizer Jason Kessler, called by the plaintiffs.

Specifically, pro se defendant Richard Spencer’s cross-examination of Kessler revealed the building bad blood between the two, and revealed the identity of the person who secretly recorded and leaked the infamous Spencer drunken rant, one David Riley.

Outtakes included Spencer asking, “When did you reach the determination that I was a sociopathic narcissist?”

“Over a long period of a time. I remember, one of the first times I spoke with you, you made my skin crawl,” Kessler said.

Spencer and Kessler went gloves off.

“So many people hate you [Richard Spencer], they like seeing you get punched and stuff,” Kessler said.

At one point Spencer asked if Kessler had ever been diagnosed with mental illness, to which plaintiffs’ attorney Karen Dunn objected.

Earlier in the morning, Dunn questioned Kessler, trying to trip him up. Sounding shrill and enervated, Dunn tried to hang Kessler up with his pre-rally metaphoric speech like, “This is war!”

At one point Dunn thought she caught Kessler, but had to apologize because she’s reading Eli Mosley’s deposition.

She then asked Kessler if Eli’s deposition is accurate.

“No. He’s a liar. He’s a known liar,” Kessler said.

Later, Dunn thought she caught Kessler in a trap, arguing that in his deposition, he said there were no guns among the counter-protesters, while he testified earlier today that he was scared of the Antifa with guns. Kessler explained that he was referring to the torch marchers – there were no guns among them.

Kessler was stunned. There was a minute or two of silence, and her voice quivered when she resumed.

Kessler made his case that Eli Klein and Spencer tried to wrest control of UTR from him.

That’s not to say it was conclusively a good day for the defense. Some evidence and testimony was brought up that could be damaging to defendants for the jury, including posts and communications from Kessler and Cantwell that could be taken as serious calls to action rather than metaphor and jokes.

Defendants will get a chance to contextualize this evidence when they make their case.

Later in the day came the biggest fireworks, when plaintiffs’ attorney, Jewish activist Michael Bloch, questioned Cantwell as a plaintiffs’ witness.

Bloch played clips of The Radical Agenda and comments from Cantwell, including from the HBO Vice special.

Cantwell proudly owned all his controversial statements, and went toe-to-toe with Bloch, winning three judgements in his favor over the admissibility of certain evidence.

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.

The linchpin of the plaintiff’s lawsuit is the claim that organizers planned the rally with the purpose of committing violence. The independent Heaphy Report, which plaintiffs have desperately tried to avoid being introduced as evidence in the case, proves this accusation to be a blatant falsehood.

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