Two sentenced to prison for Charlottesville attack on black man

Two men have been sentenced to prison for beating of a black man at a far-right rally in Charlottesville last year, local media reported.

Jacob Scott Goodwin and Alex Ramos were sentenced to eight and six years respectively on Thursday for the beating of DeAndre Harris at the Unite the Right rally in August 2017.

The confrontation took place after a friend of Harris attempted to take a Confederate flag away from one of the marchers. 

Pictures and a video of Harris’s beating by a group of white nationalists were shared widely online, leading to attempts to identify the perpetrators.

Harris, 20, suffered a spinal injury and a broken arm in the attack, which took place in a car park close to a Charlottesville police station.

Goodwin, 23, was found guilty last May. During the trial, he claimed he beat Harris out of self-defence.

Ramos said he took a “cheap shot” at Harris, but said he was not a racist and just attended the rally to support some of his friends.

In total, four people were arrested for their involvement in the incident.

A third man, Daniel Borden, who was charged in connection to the beating of Harris, pleaded guilty last May. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 1.

Harris himself was charged with assault and battery, but a court in Charlottesville found him not guilty in March.

Last year’s Unite the Right was the largest white supremacist rally held in the US in decades. It turned deadly when a driver rammed his vehicle into a crowd of anti-racist protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of others. James Alex Fields Jr, who was seen marching with the far right earlier in the day, has since been charged with a slew of crimes, including federal hate crimes. 

Only a handful of white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other members of the far right attended this year’s Unite the Right, held in Washington, DC on August 12, the anniversary of Heyer’s death. They were far outnumbered by counterprotesters, who held marches and rallies throughout the day.