Grand jury indicts torch-wielding marchers from 2017 incident in Charlottesville

[BumRushDaShow]

7. Well the article indicated the indictments were for felonies

Then-Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Tracci asserted that Virginia’s law banning burning as intimidation — written to prevent the Ku Klux Klan from burning crosses to terrorize Black people — asserted that he couldn’t prosecute because the law asserts that an “object” must be burned.

However, University of Virginia law professor Anne Coughlin noted that some of the torch-wielders surrounded and then struck some of the counter-protesters gathered at the statue of Thomas Jefferson in front of the Rotunda on Grounds on Aug. 11, 2017. Coughlin has long argued that failing to bring charges was dereliction of duty.

“I still stand by what I said then, with nothing new to add,” Coughlin told The Daily Progress on Monday in an email.

Virginia has no statute of limitations on felony charges. Conviction under the Virginia Code is rated as Class 6 felony and can bring a penalty up to five years in jail.

And the code notes that if there is battery based on race, etc, then it would be a felony -

§ 18.2-57. Assault and battery; penalty.

A. Any person who commits a simple assault or assault and battery is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor, and if the person intentionally selects the person against whom a simple assault is committed because of his race, religious conviction, gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, color, or national origin, the penalty upon conviction shall include a term of confinement of at least six months.

B. However, if a person intentionally selects the person against whom an assault and battery resulting in bodily injury is committed because of his race, religious conviction, gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, color, or national origin, the person is guilty of a Class 6 felony, and the penalty upon conviction shall include a term of confinement of at least six months.

(snip)

https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title18.2/chapter4/section18.2-57/

So it could be they want to go that route. And I know there were numerous videos that went viral showing some of the attacks on counter-protestors (let alone what happened to Heather Heyer) - and apparently of those not already charged for the most notorious incidents.