CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — A judge has denied bond for white nationalist Christopher Cantwell, who faces felony charges in connection with a torchlit rally at the University of Virginia.
TV station WVIR reports the judge reversed a lower court’s decision Thursday that had set bond at $25,000. The judge ruled Cantwell is a flight risk and his hate speech makes him a threat to others.
Cantwell told The Associated Press he pepper-sprayed a counter-demonstrator in self-defense during an Aug. 11 protest, a day before the much larger white nationalist rally.
Also Thursday, Ku Klux Klan member Richard Wilson Preston Jr. of Baltimore, who is charged with firing a gun during the rally, made an initial court appearance. The station reports he appeared via video. Bond wasn’t set because he doesn’t have an attorney yet.
