Jason Kessler Off the White Power Chopping Block…For Now…

The former Daily Caller writer and organizer of the tragic “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA on Aug. 12, walks free, cleared of a perjury charge.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – A perjury charge against White Supremacist Jason Kessler was dismissed Tuesday in Albemarle County Circuit Court on a technicality, and cannot be brought again due to double jeopardy.

The charge, stemming stemmed from a Jan. 22, 2017 incident where Kessler said a man identified as James Taylor of Albemarle assaulted him on the Charlottesville Downtown Mall although surveillance video contradicted his statements, was  dismissed after a judge found that the prosecution did not show where the alleged crime took place. Taylor’s assault charges were dismissed months ago. At the time, Kessler was trying to get signature on a petition to remove Wes Bellamy from the City Council, one of the city’s biggest opponents to the statues remaining, for controversial tweets he wrote before he joined the council.

Jury selection was particularly problematic because many jurors knew of Kessler. According to news reports, One juror said she thought he “lacks a moral compass” while another thought he wanted the city’s Jim Crow-era statues of Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson removed from the park that used to bear their names. In truth, Kessler’s campaign to keep the statues let to him organizing the “Unite the Right” rally on Aug. 12, which led to a riot instigated by neo-Fasicsts and Nazis attending and resulting in the death of 34-year-old Heather Heyer after one of the attendees, 20-year-old James Fields, allegedly drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters. Fields is currently awaiting trial on a first degree murder charge.

Kessler said later that the perjury charge, which was brought against him one month after the “Unite the Right” rally was politically motivated. “Tracci is trying to do a political hit job, not only against me and other Unite the Right people, but also against Christopher Cantwell,” Kessler said, referring to the neo-Nazi radio host who will stand trial on Aug. 13 on two charges of illegal use of a chemical agent. “This was an attempt to undermine my credibility, so I can’t testify about the city of Charlottesville and their sabotage of that rally that got people hurt. And no one on any side should have gotten hurt.”

Kessler was a one time contributor to Tucker Carlson’s Daily Caller, which has been under fire for constant promotion and association with White supremacists, and only removed Kessler’s articles after the events of Aug. 12. Kessler still faces a $3 million lawsuit filed by two sisters injured in the car attack that killed Heyer. Also named in the suit is Fields, White Supremacist Richard Spencer, and at least 28 others.