Violent clashes erupt at the “Unite The Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12, 2017.Photo:Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Six years after a White nationalist rally brought death and destruction to Charlottesville, Virginia, a new HBO documentary pulls back the curtain on how lawyers set out to hold its organizers accountable.
TitledNo Accident, the documentary follows attorneys Roberta “Robbie” Kaplan and Karen Dunn as they bring forth (and, ultimately, win) the case ofSines vs. Kessler,which held the orchestrators ofthe 2017 “Unite the Right” rallyaccountable for the violence that occurred.
No Accidentpromises “bombshell after bombshell,” shining light on victims of the violence and detailing the communications between those who perpetrated it. (Communications that the attorneys suggest show a concerted effort to sow mayhem).
“These aren’t just isolated people,” Kaplan says in a trailer for the documentary, shared exclusively with PEOPLE. “It is part of a movement.”
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency in response to the violence and declared the rally illegal. But the violence didn’t stop, with 20-year-old James Alex Fields Jr.driving his car into a group of counter-protesterson Aug. 12, killing one 32-year-old woman and injuring at least 19 people.
The lawsuit alleged that the event was not an isolated, spontaneous gathering, but rather “a well-planned and coordinated conspiracy to incite racially motivated violence and to advance a race-war agenda.”
No Accidentshows the attorneys formulating their argument that, when Fields drove into the crowd, it wasn’t a mistake, but rather the result of “covert planning.”
James Alex Fields Jr., the man who drove his car into counter-protesters at the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally.Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail/Getty Images
How the case ended is, at this point, well-established.
In 2021, a Virginia jury found a group of White nationalists who organized the rally liable of engaging in a conspiracy ahead of the violent demonstration, awarding the plaintiffs more than $25 million in damages.
Fields, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to 29 federal hate crimes and was sentenced to life in prison in June 2019.
source: people.com
