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Jeffrey Winder was convicted of sexual assault in February for hitting Jason Kessler, a white nationalist organizer, in August 2017. On Tuesday, a jury ruled that his punishment would be a huge $ 1 fine.
Kessler attempted to hold a press conference in Charlottesville, Virginia, the day after Heather Heyer's murder by a white supremacist who was driving his car in a group of protesters against the white nationalist rally organized by the Unite the Right group of Kessler. Winder was among the protesters who came forward to prevent Kessler from making a statement, punched him in the head while others booed and shouted at him.
Winder was sentenced to a maximum term of one year in jail and fined $ 2,500 for the punch, which was filmed by the local NBC affiliate. He appealed his conviction for assault and, while the jury upheld the verdict of guilty, they decided not to serve a sentence of imprisonment and to impose a fine of $ 1.
Winder's lawyer, James Abrenio, argued that Kessler seized on himself by holding a press conference as the city was recovering from Heyer's death, saying he "was doing everything to benefit of tragedy ".
NPR reports that Winder told NBC 29 (WVIR): "There [Kessler] The people of Charlottesville had an incredible amount of nerves after the pain, suffering, and terror they had caused in the community. He should never be allowed to show his face again in town. It seems like a jury of his peers has agreed – and it may be that it comes to settle a long-standing debate about the morality of the punches practiced by white supremacists.
On the day of the inauguration on January 20, 2017, the instigator of white supremacy, Richard Spencer, was hit in the face during an interview by a masked protester. The punch heard around the world has become a viral sensation and sparked a passionate and sometimes joyful debate over whether hitting Nazis is a moral necessity or a counterproductive attempt to combat violence with violence. (Spencer does not consider himself a Nazi, any more than Kessler – but the machine was not interested in separating fists between Nazis, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and white nationalists). ")
In addition to videos of Spencer's face on the Internet, the Internet was flooded with opinions calling for civility, warning that hitting the Nazis (or people who hold Nazi values) would "lead to an escalation of political violence" arguing that "we can not hit people even if they are ideologically despicable".
Supporters of Nazi punches invoked the beloved fabled punches of Indiana Jones and Captain America, as well as the heroes of World War II. Nazi supercuts hit in movies circulated, as did the website CanIPunchNazis.com, which is a page with a Spencer gif and the words "yes, it's still ok to hit a Nazi".
Mother Jones published "The Long History of Nazi Punching" and ParentMap examined the question "My son wants to point the Nazis – Should I leave him?", Explained Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek and the Cato Institute of Washington an investigation aimed to evaluate the public opinion (68% overall said that it was not acceptable to hit the Nazis, but 51% of the people qualified as "strong liberals" responded by l & # 39; yes). was, unsurprisingly, never settled. Until Tuesday, when it seems that this Charlottesville jury has made an official decision: yes, punch.
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