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

[BumRushDaShow]

12. From the WaPo article

(snip)

Burning objects with intent to intimidate is punishable in Virginia by one to five years in prison. “You have to show that the conduct created a reasonable apprehension of death or bodily harm,” said Anne M. Coughlin, a U-Va. School of Law professor who for years has called on prosecutors to file charges against the torch carriers. “There is very strong evidence that these folks were here for the purpose of terrifying our Jewish friends and neighbors — people of color.”

The law was enacted in 2002 partly in response to the Ku Klux Klan, which was known for burning crosses in public to scare the Black population, and it is “tailor-made” for a criminal case against the torch carriers at the rally, Coughlin said. But the case took nearly six years to get to the grand jury. Hingeley’s predecessor, former Albemarle County commonwealth’s attorney Robert N. Tracci, declined to seek charges against the torch carriers.

Tracci wrote in an opinion article from 2019 that under the Virginia law on burning objects, “The question could arise — and would in criminal law — as to whether carrying a burning torch falls within the definitional scope of burning an object.” Tracci could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

“He was voted out of office,” Coughlin said. “The voters replaced him, and one of Jim Hingeley’s promises — if you look at his campaign material, he said that he thought these charges should be brought.”

(snip)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/04/18/charlottesville-white-supremacist-tiki-torch-indictments/