2 members of the White supremacist group plead guilty to violence in Charlottesville

May 4, 2019, 3:23 UTC

By Phil Helsel

Two men accused of belonging to a group of white supremacists and arrested after the deadly "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, pleaded guilty to federal charges on Friday, prosecutors said.

Benjamin Drake Daley, 26, and Michael Paul Miselis, 30, whose prosecutors said they were members of the "Rise Above Movement," pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to the riot, said the US prosecutor's office in the western district of Virginia in a statement. .

Daley faces 27 to 42 months in prison, according to a plea agreement filed in this case. The Miselis agreement does not specify a range, but the charge is up to five years. They will be sentenced this summer.

Daley was one of the founders of RAM, a California organization now gone. Daley, Miselis and two other men – Thomas Gillen and Cole White – were arrested in October because of violence at the 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville.

The four men went to the rally in California and assaulted people, including an African-American, two women and a minister, prosecutors said.

"As members of RAM, Daley and Miselis were trained in violent clashes and attended the Unite the Right rally in hopes of provoking a physical conflict with counter-protesters likely to provoke riots", said David W. Archey, the FBI's special agent in charge of the Richmond agency's division, said in a statement.

E-mails to a public defender or lawyers listed as Daley and Miselis were not immediately returned late Friday.

White and Gillen had already pleaded guilty to riot conspiracy. The plea agreements in their case do not provide for a range of imprisonment, but specify that the charge is punishable by a maximum penalty of five years.

Men should be sentenced on July 19th.

The conviction of Thomas is also scheduled for that date, and no date is set for Miselis, according to the online information of the Federal Court.

During a walk on the campus of the University of Virginia the night before the rally, at which prosecutors said that Daley, Miselis and other members of the RAM were present, the participants carried torches and chanted "The Jews will not replace us" and "the blood and the earth".

"These recognized white supremacists went to Charlottesville to incite and commit acts of violence, not to engage in a peaceful expression of the First Amendment," US Attorney for the Virginia West District, Virginia T Cullen, in the announcement of his guilty pleas. and Miselis.

"Although the First Amendment protects the right of an organization to express abominable political views, it does not allow senseless violence for the realization of a political agenda," said Cullen. .

During this rally, which included white nationalists and KKK members, James Alex Fields Jr., drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters and killed Heather Heyer. Fields was sentenced by a federal and federal court for murder. He faces prison for life.