The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia announced Friday that three white supremacists have been sentenced to between two and three years in prison after helping start a riot at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville in 2017.
Benjamin Daley, Michael Miselis and Thomas Gillen were all part of a white supremacist group called the Rise Above Movement.
“These defendants, motivated by hateful ideology, incited and committed acts of violence in Charlottesville, as well at other purported political rallies in California,” U.S. Attorney Thomas Cullen said in a statement. “They were not interested in peaceful protest or lawful First Amendment expression; instead, they intended to provoke and engage in street battles with those that they perceived as their enemies. I am grateful for the diligence and hard work of the FBI and Virginia State Police in bringing these violent white supremacists to justice.”
The rally, about which President Donald Trump made his infamous “fine people on both sides” comment, resulted in the death of Heather Heyer when a white supremacist rammed a car into a crowd of counter-protesters.
