Man convicted of punching the alt-right Charlottesville organizer in the head fined $1, no jail time
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A man found guilty of assaulting the organizer of the deadly Aug. 2017 alt-right Unite the Right rally was fined $1 for the crime, according to local media reports.
Jeffrey Winder was accused of punching organizer Jason Kessler in the back of the head during a press conference, local NBC affiliate WVIR-TV reports. He was found guilty in February, but Winder appealed.
He was again found guilty of misdemeanor assault and battery Tuesday by a jury and given a $1 fine with no jail time, The Daily Progress reports. Some jurors were tearful as the verdict was delivered.
Winder could have faced up to a year in jail and a fine of $2,500, The Washington Post reports.
Widner is one of several people who were charged with assault after a crowd surrounded Kessler, overrunning a press conference held after the rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“I was attacked in front of the whole world, and then people made fun of me for it,” Kessler said, according to The Daily Progress.
Winder has never admitted to being the person captured on video punching Kessler, the publication says. He could still appeal this latest conviction, according to WVIR-TV.
Last August's demonstrations shook Charlottesville for two days. On the evening of Aug. 11, hundreds of torch-bearing protesters marched through the University of Virginia campus, chanting white supremacist slogans.
The next day, the group swamped downtown Charlottesville and rioting broke out when they were met by counterprotesters. Several people were injured, and one woman, Heather Heyer, 32, died when she was struck by a car.
Kessler's press conference was held a day after Heyer's death.
Kessler is a leader in the alt-right movement — a collection of far-right groups and people dedicated to "white ethnonationalism" in Western civilization.
In addition to organizing the Unite the Right rally, he has been active on Twitter and on his website since 2015, where he describes the ideals of the alt-right as "protecting the west."
He's accused the city of Charlottesville of failing to protect him at the press conference and says he's planning to sue the police department, The Daily Progress reports.
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