Members of a white supremacist group were denied release on bond Tuesday while appealing their convictions from attacking counterprotesters at the 2017 Charlottesville, Virginia, white nationalist rally.
U.S. District Judge Norman Moon wrote in his decision that Benjamin Daley, Thomas Gillen and Michael Miselis — all members of the Rise Above Movement — did not adequately explain how they wouldn’t endanger society upon their release and denied their release into their parents’ custody.
Judge Moon handed the three men sentences ranging from 27 to 37 months in July after they pleaded guilty to riot conspiracy charges at the Unite the Right rally.
Daley, Miselis and Gillen flew from California to take part in the march on the University of Virginia’s campus, chanting “Blood and soil!” and “Jews will not replace us!” prosecutors said.
The group’s anti-Semitism, racism and sexism led them to attack counterprotesters, prosecutors said. They also pointed to the three men disrupting a white privilege seminar and burning books such as “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “Schindler’s List” in California.
The three men are attempting to challenge an anti-riot law in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by questioning its constitutionality. Wednesday was the deadline for the men’s’ attorneys to submit their opening briefs.
A fourth member of their group, Cole White, pleaded guilty and has been released on bond as he waits for his November sentencing hearing.
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