Judge denies bail for man charged in 2017 Charlottesville march

By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN

A judge denied bond Friday to a man accused in the 2017 White supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, citing allegations the man continued to participate in antisemitic incidents after the infamous event at the University of Virginia.

Albemarle County Circuit Court Judge Claude Worrell said he “can’t believe” the defendant, Tyler Bradley Dykes, 25, “will be on good behavior” if he were to be released from jail while he awaits trial.

Worrell said he believed there was a risk Dykes would destroy evidence, citing a Telegram message Dykes sent to associates after an arrest earlier this year saying, “I’m arrested by Virginia. Nuke my account.” Dykes allegedly sent the message to a group with other “extremist” individuals, which prosecutors said was used to discuss potential future violence against minorities.

Dykes is charged with a felony, of burning an object with the “intent to intimidate” during the 2017 march, the evening before the deadly “Unite the Right” rally. A second man facing the same charge, Will Zachary Smith, was also scheduled to have a bond hearing Friday but the hearing was postponed.

Smith, of Nacona, Texas, was arrested in January. He is also charged with maliciously releasing a chemical irritant such as tear gas the day of the march, according to court records. Smith is scheduled for a detention hearing.

Neither has entered a formal plea, and defense attorneys for Dykes and Smith declined to speak to reporters outside the Charlottesville courthouse.

The demonstration at the university was followed by a “Unite the Right” rally the next day in downtown Charlottesville.

Heather Heyer was killed when a car plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters gathered to oppose the gathering of White nationalist and other right-wing groups. Nineteen others were injured.

Though brief, Dykes’ detention hearing shed new light on the charges he faces, as there was scant public information about prosecutors’ allegations against Dykes.

The hearing also underscored how, years after the rally took place, Albemarle County prosecutors are still working to find people who took part in the events and hold them accountable.

Dykes, clad in a black-and-white striped jumpsuit and orange plastic shoes, sat beneath an ornate chandelier in the small Charlottesville courthouse with his hands shackled around his waist. He showed little emotion during the hearing, only once subtly waiving to his parents in the courtroom.

‘Nothing short of bone-chilling’

In arguing to keep Dykes detained, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Lawton Tufts told Worrell that Dykes participated in the 2017 march with a torch in hand. Tufts said Dykes joined a group that moved onto the campus and targeted a small group of counterprotesters sitting by a statue.

Dykes and his counterparts surrounded the counterprotesters, according to Tufts, and “completely cut off any way to escape.”

“They were still holding torches, they were still chanting ‘blood and soil,’ ” Tufts said, referring to a Nazi slogan. “It is nothing short of bone-chilling to see. It is nothing short of completely terrorizing” the counterprotesters, he added. Dykes also allegedly used his torch to hit one of the counterprotesters.

Bryan Jones, Dykes’ defense lawyer, called Dykes’ father, Scott, to testify. Scott Dykes had committed to keeping an eye on his son while out on bond and to allow his son to stay at his house in South Carolina.

In a particularly stunning moment, Tufts approached Scott Dykes and showed him a picture of a man accused of placing swastika stickers on local businesses in Sumter, South Carolina, which read “We are everywhere.”

“Does that look like your son,” Tufts asked of the picture, acknowledging the man in the picture has not officially been charged with any crime.

“Looks like it could be,” Scott Dykes said.

Arguing Dykes was not a danger, Jones said, “Even if any of those allegations brought up by the Commonwealth are true, they didn’t result in criminal charges.”

Dykes will next appear in court in June.

A third defendant, Dallas Medina of Ravenna, Ohio, was arrested Monday, according to court records, but is not in custody.

The three defendants have not entered formal pleas. CNN has been unable to reach Medina.

Laws arose from KKK era, professor says

Prosecutors said Monday the “burning an object with the intent to intimidate” charge is a low-level felony offense, carrying a maximum sentence of five years in prison. The chemical irritant charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The burning an object law came about to curb racist terror committed by the KKK, like cross burning, UVA law professor Anne M. Coughlin told CNN on Friday.

“The statute prohibits burning objects in a public place, and the defendant has to have the intent to intimidate another person and to commit the burning in a manner that is likely to create an apprehension of death or bodily harm,” Coughlin said.

“And so the elements of the statute are pretty straightforward. And it makes perfect sense from where I sit as a law professor, to see a prosecutor decide to pursue those charges on the kind of evidence that we have seen published in public that’s available.”

It is “plausible” more of the hundreds of participants in the rally could be charged, she said, though that decision would be up to James Hingeley, the commonwealth’s attorney for Albemarle County.

CNN has reached out to Hingeley’s office for comment. Tufts declined to comment at the courthouse.

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CNN’s Kristina Sgueglia, Devan Cole, Jay Croft and Melissa Alonso contributed to this report.