Black man beaten in Charlottesville found not guilty of assaulting white supremacist [View all]
Source: The Washington Post
By Ian Shapira March 16 at 12:47 PM
A black man brutally beaten at last year’s white supremacist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va. — and who was later charged with assaulting a white nationalist — was acquitted Friday.
DeAndre Harris, 20, a former special education instructional assistant, was found not guilty by Charlottesville General District Court Judge Robert Downer Jr. on a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery against Harold Crews, a North Carolina attorney and state chairman of The League of the South. If Harris had been convicted, he would have faced up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine.
The acquittal is a relief for Harris, who was viciously beaten inside a parking garage next to the city’s police department on Aug. 12, 2017. He suffered a spinal injury and head lacerations that required 10 stitches.
Two months later, his legal path took an unexpected turn when Crews filed a police report and then persuaded a Charlottesville magistrate to issue an arrest warrant in October on a felony charge of unlawful wounding, which carries a five-year maximum sentence. The news was cheered online by white nationalists.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/black-man-beaten-in-charlottesville-found-not-guilty-of-assaulting-white-supremacist/2018/03/16/92160a88-288f-11e8-b79d-f3d931db7f68_story.html
= new reply since forum marked as read