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You are here: Home / Politics / domestic terrorists / Good News Open Thread: DeAndre Harris Found Not Guilty

Good News Open Thread: DeAndre Harris Found Not Guilty

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Per The Root:

On Friday, the American criminal-justice system actually got something right; as it turns out, DeAndre Harris, the black man who was brutally beaten during the Charlottesville, Va., Unite the Right white supremacist rally, was found not guilty of assaulting a white nationalist.

Last year, Harris, who was counterprotesting the infamous rally, was cornered and attacked by white supremacists in a parking garage. He sustained multiple injuries, including a broken wrist and staples in his head. Yet for some reason, Harris was charged with felony counts as well as misdemeanor assault following his own beating. The felony charges were ultimately dropped, but he was still forced to stand trial for the misdemeanor.

However, on the same day Harris went to trial, he was immediately acquitted. Charlottesville General District Court Judge Robert Downer Jr. found Harris, 20, not guilty. Had Harris been convicted, he would have faced up to 12 months in jail along with a $2,500 fine for allegedly striking Harold Crews, a North Carolina attorney and state chairman of the League of the South, the Washington Post reports.…

In one clip, Crews is seen holding a large flagpole in front of a black protester, who is pulling on the other end. As the two grapple over the pole, Harris swings his flashlight, seemingly hitting Crews on his head or shoulder.

Moments later, several white supremacists cornered Harris in the garage and brutally took him to the ground, attacking him.

As stated, Harris suffered severe injuries, only to be treated as a criminal afterward. His friends and family started a GoFundMe to help pay for his medical expenses, a campaign that raised a whopping $166,045…

NYMag adds:

… Twenty-year-old DeAndre Harris faced up to a year in prison for hitting Harold Crews, the state chairman of the neo-Confederate group the League of the South, over the head with a flashlight. The incident occurred outside a parking garage, shortly before a brawl between protesters and counterprotesters in the garage, during which Harris was beaten badly by several white supremacists. Harris suffered a spinal injury and a head laceration that required stitches.

Crews brought the charges against Harris two months after the rally, at which point a warrant was issued for his arrest. The charge, originally a felony, was knocked down to a misdemeanor.

Crews (along with legions of right-wingers online) claims that Harris had incited violence by hitting him with the flashlight. But Harris said that he had only struck Crews because Crews had been attacking his friend, Corey Long, with a flagpole…

Four men who assaulted Harris in the garage, including members of Crews’s organization, face trials in the spring.

Cheers broke out in the courtroom when the verdict was read.

Reader Interactions

70Comments

  2. 2.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    NPR has a story up about young black people voting less. I can’t say that’s encouraging news.

  5. 5.

    Major Major Major Major

    Can they bill his attorney fees and the cost of the court time and administrative work to the guy who decided to press charges?

    ETA (I know the answer is probably no and likely for a good reason but still)

  8. 8.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @Mnemosyne:

    The story included a couple of interviews with disaffected voters who chose/choose not to participate for the reasons they state. It’s on the NPR front page for those wanting to look.

  10. 10.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I’ve been posting here for years.

    I am not judging the reasons given by the people interviewed in the story for their decisions.

    I am saying losing a meaningful group of people as members of the progressive party is troubling.

    Read the story or don’t. Do not assume I’m a concern troll.

  11. 11.

    Emma

    You know, I am getting fed up with having to celebrate good results for things that shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Only a racist moron of a prosecutor bring charges after seeing the evidence. I will cheer when they kick his arse out of office.

  14. 14.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Mnemosyne: Was this the NPR article where they said that Democrats need to stop completely ignoring black people? Despite, you know, that not happening?

    If someone has bought into the “Democrats do nothing for black people” narrative, there’s something desperately wrong going on there.

    EDIT: I think this was the same one. I kept seeing facebook comments like “As a black man, what have the democrats ever done for me?” Some of those were probably trolls/bots, but some of them weren’t.

    I get gobsmacked when I see things like that. Democrats supported BLM. They supported police reform against departments that targeted black people, even when it wasn’t politically popular to do so. They make sure black folks can vote, and they vote for social programs that help quite a few black people. They also frequently call out racism and push regulations that make racism less public and less likely.

  16. 16.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    The story says black voter turnout fell 7% between ’12 and ’16. Then, with albeit, just two interviews, the writer supposes further erosion (from disaffection) in ’18.

    I can’t blame some for feeling disaffected. I hope it’s not true though. HRC and Trump are not the same, Susan Sarandon. This country would be better off had HRC been elected. That’s my view. YMMV.

  19. 19.

    Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)

    @Emma:

    Isn’t this the case where the prosecutor didn’t bring charges, but due to a quirk of VA law, the “victim” convinced a judge to issue an arrest warrant?

    I could be wrong, though.

  22. 22.

    Yarrow

    @Baud: The Russians were doing what they do best–targeting already existing divisions in our society. The HRC-Wilmer divide was the most obvious case of it last time around, but they also targeted Black Lives Matter and all sorts of other groups, issues and divisions.

    I don’t know how, but we need to educate people on how propaganda works and encourage people to look critically at what they read and watch. I’d also like a unicorn.

  27. 27.

    Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)

    @dollared:

    I must be thinking of something else, then.

    Either way, it is good news but it never should have come to this point, the DA’s bullshit notwithstanding.

  30. 30.

    Mnemosyne

    @dollared:

    That’s what I was thinking it was — the DA wanted to be “tough” and show that there was zero tolerance for violent protesters in Charlottesville.

    And, as inevitably happens, “zero tolerance” meant that the one guy who hit one other guy got the same charges as the FOUR guys who ganged up on him later.

  32. 32.

    NotMax

    @Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)

    Your recollection is sound.

    Months later, in October, Crews filed a police report and persuaded a Charlottesville magistrate to issue an arrest warrant against Harris on a felony charge of unlawful wounding. As TPM previously reported, this was made possible thanks to an odd statute in the Virginia state code that allows private citizens to initiate the process of obtaining a warrant. Source

  35. 35.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @NotMax:

    How these people cannot bring themselves to say so simple a thing is astonishing.

  36. 36.

    lumpkin

    If he’d only had a gun he could have exercised his 2nd amendment rights and would not have been prosecuted and would have been celebrated by the RW and NRA. Oh, I forgot the 2nd doesn’t apply to 3/5 of the population. Never mind.

  37. 37.

    Mnemosyne

    @West of the Rockies (been a while):

    Keep in mind that, as Yarrow said, the anti-Hillary propaganda was micro-targeted to both the left and the right. The whole Hillary used the word “superpredators” in an interview! thing was designed to get young Black voters to stay home.

    Voter suppression measures are not just things that make it harder for people to vote — they also include psy-ops designed to make people less enthusiastic and stay home.

  38. 38.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I read the piece. I think the author is well-intentioned if naive.

    He presumes goodwill among people. The number of people, however, who can do the Herculean work of looking in the mirror critically and objectively, and recognize a need to change is all too rare.

  39. 39.

    Yarrow

    I missed this yesterday and didn’t see it mentioned in Cheryl’s post or the comments.

    I have filed a legal claim in the UK against Cambridge Analytica/SCL under the Data Protection Act. Thank you to all those who have backed me in this effort. And special thanks to @RaviNa1k pic.twitter.com/RxPRNs3J02— David Carroll ? (@profcarroll) March 16, 2018

  41. 41.

    Mnemosyne

    I should be re-reading my latest contest submission one last time before I send it off, but Charlotte decided she needed to snuggle after her traumatic visit to the groomer’s to get her nails trimmed. Silly kitty. ?

  44. 44.

    Mnemosyne

    @Yutsano:

    I don’t think De Léon is going to be able to beat Feinstein head-to-head, no. She is WAY more shrewd than her detractors give her credit for and IMO De Léon is going to get smoked like he was a Republican.

    I do wish she would retire already, though.

  46. 46.

    Mnemosyne

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):

    I made some big changes already based on fixing a historical assumption I had made, but luckily it makes the story much better and gives the hero a stronger motivation. But it was definitely helpful to have the notes from the other contest and see where I needed to tighten it up.

    I moved the chapter-closing line that the most enthusiastic judge said gave her a chill from chapter 2 to chapter 1. Make ’em turn the page sooner! ?

  47. 47.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mike J:

    Exactly. If you want better gun control, Feinstein is who you want on your side, and she knows the levers of power.

    I also don’t think she’s going to go along with Trump as easily as she did W. It’s not 2003 anymore.

  50. 50.

    joel hanes

    Feinstein wrote the original assault weapon ban

    Well-intentioned but poorly drafted, with a nearly fatal focus on cosmetic features rather than functional distinctions.

  53. 53.

    Mary G

    @joel hanes: Feinstein is smart enough to know how the 1994 bill was ineffective and to learn from it and write a new one using universal characteristics, like muzzle velocity and size of clips or magazines that will be harder to crack.

  55. 55.

    Doug R

    @West of the Rockies (been a while):

    The story says black voter turnout fell 7% between ’12 and ’16. Then, with albeit, just two interviews, the writer supposes further erosion (from disaffection) in ’18.

    Considering the active measures to keep young blacks from voting like the racist North Carolina laws DESIGNED to keep blacks from voting and the voting ID requirements including some states not accepting College ID but accepting gun licences. Gun ownership is way less among blacks, young voters tend to be college students and poor and therefore have no car. Throw in Crosscheck and closed voting locations and shortened hours along with long hours if you’ve got that minimum wage job and it’s a miracle it’s only 7%.

    Like only 12 other states, Alabama does not permit early voting, which is disproportionately used by minorities and the poor. Its restrictions on voting by people with felony records were recently relaxed, but remain among the nation’s toughest and likely curb black turnout. The state’s voter ID law, which was challenged in federal court, threatened to disenfranchise at least 100,000 registered voters, many of them black or Hispanic, according to the N.A.A.C.P. Legal Defense Fund. And a panel of federal judges ruled this year that 12 state legislative districts had been gerrymandered to dilute African-American voting power. The congressional map is also gerrymandered.

    That’s what the FYNYT had to say in an article that ADMITS BLACKS TURNED OUT IN GREATER PERCENTAGES THAN WHITES in the 2017 Special Election for the Alabama Senate seat.
    Concern troll NPR can speculate on 2018 all they want from their white privilege studio, but I think they’re full of sh*t.

  56. 56.

    Doug R

    @Baud:

    Not having Obama hurt. We also know now that the Russians were targeting minorities.

    From Mueller’s indictment of 13 Russians:

    46. In or around the latter half of 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators, through their ORGANIZATION-controlled personas, began to encourage U.S. minority groups not to vote in the 2016 U.S. presidential election or to vote for a third-party U.S. presidential candidate.

    a. On or about October 16, 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators used the ORGANIZATION-controlled Instagram account “Woke Blacks” to post the following message: “[A] particular hype and hatred for Trump is misleading the people and forcing Blacks to vote Killary. We cannot resort to the lesser of two devils. Then we’d surely be better off without voting AT ALL.”

    b. On or about November 3, 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators purchased an advertisement to promote a post on the ORGANIZATION-controlled Instagram account “Blacktivist” that read in part: “Choose peace and vote for Jill Stein. Trust me, it’s not a wasted vote.”

  57. 57.

    PsiFighter37

    @Mnemosyne: One of the things I do worry about on our side once the old guard finally leave is the complete lack of legislative know-how. Given how dysfunctional government has been since 2010, there are a whole bunch of senators and representatives (especially on the GOP side, but on ours too) who don’t necessarily know how to legislate. Say what you will about Feinstein, but she knows how to do stuff. I’m not convinced De Leon does (yet) – passing legislation in the CA State Senate is more like dunking the ball repeatedly.

  59. 59.

    Brachiator

    @West of the Rockies (been a while):

    NPR has a story up about young black people voting less. I can’t say that’s encouraging news.

    Young black people don’t listen to NPR.

    Democrats have been good about getting the vote out. And black people know about voter suppression efforts. People know what needs to be done. They just have to keep on doing it.

  60. 60.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Emma: Exactly how I feel. My Dad made me laugh out loud once when he said we shouldn’t be celebrating the end of slavery. There shouldn’t have been any slavery in the first place.

  61. 61.

    Chyron HR

    @Doug R:

    Yes, but I came by those exact same conclusions all on my own because I would never be taken in by something on the internet!

  63. 63.

    glory b

    @West of the Rockies (been a while): Yeah, don’t get too upset. I’m an African American female who lives in a predominantly black city neighborhood (Homewood in Pittsburgh for those who are familiar with the area).

    My early twenty year olds are ENGAGED and so are lots of their friends. They see exactly what’s happening and why. They are INCENSED at the triumph of the mediocre white guys and they know that they would never be given the same breaks. They are registered and will vote. My daughter was disappointed that we don’t live the 18th district and she couldn’t vote for Conor Lamb.

    Joy Reid said a little while ago that her sons and their friends were sucked into thinking it was kind of fashionable to say they weren’t voting. I’d llike to think that they aren’t thinking that anymore.

    Lastly, I’m still kind ofrittany Packnet, one of the founders of BLM. She was on a Pod Save America podcast the other day, saying that the Dems didn’t give them something to VOTE FOR.

    She’s trying to rewrite history. Hillary reached out to BLM and asked them to meet with er to help her formulate some policies with her. DeRay McKissick said okay, and the other activists jumped on him and he withdrew. Later BLM said they weren’t going to back either candidate. Way late in the game, like October, a few of them personally endorsed her.

    If they now complain that they didn’t have anything to vote for, they have themselves to blame. You were asked to the dance and turned down the invite. I’m almost tempted to open a twitter account to tell them that.

  64. 64.

    glory b

    @Brachiator: Ha!

    Actually, my son listens once in a while. But every election since 2016 includes some (ususally) young black journalist saying black people aren’t feeling the candidate (see Northam and Jones) and probably won’t turn out. They interview a few Hoteps and then say, “See?”

    And each time they’ve been wrong.

  65. 65.

    TS

    @West of the Rockies (been a while):

    The story says black voter turnout fell 7% between ’12 and ’16

    And there probably was a fall between 2012 & 2016 – gosh I wonder who was on the ballot in 2012 to bring out black voters. Nothing like the media stating the bleedin’ obvious
    They are still 95% reliable democratic voters – given that people queued for 7-10 hours to vote for President Obama – I doubt some would do same for anyone else. The GOP aim is to stop black people voting. President Obama slowed that down.

  66. 66.

    Mnemosyne

    @glory b:

    Hoteps

    As a middle-aged white lady, I know I can’t use this word in conversation myself, but I read enough VSB that I know exactly what it means and it makes me giggle every. single. time. ?

    ETA: I’ll point out the Broflakes if you’ll point out the Hoteps.

  67. 67.

    NMgal

    @glory b: Thanks for your comments bringing the insight. I had to look up Hotep. Thank goodness for The Root! Where would white people be without it?

  69. 69.

    MLC

    The prosecutor is the most unregulated actor in the criminal justice system. No judge can stop a prosecutor from prosecuting. They can’t be sued in nearly any circumstances, so that check is unavailable. They charge who they want, and let God sort ‘me out. Assholes.

  70. 70.

    jefft452

    @B.B.A.: +1
    Insurance companies charge teen aged boys more if they drive a sports car. Why? They could drive recklessly in a mom-mobile too, but if they choose a car based on “what makes me look cool” it signals insurance companies that they are more likely to be irresponsible
    If you choose a gun based on “what makes me look badass”, well, you’re probably not mature enough to own one

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