On the night of August 11, 2017, more than 200 white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and allied far-right marchers walked across the University of Virginia campus carrying lit tiki torches and chanting slogans including “Jews will not replace us” and “Blood and soil.” The Charlottesville tiki torch march was staged as a show of force the evening before the “Unite the Right” rally, which was organized to protest the city’s decision to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.1Equal Justice Initiative. August 11 – Racial Injustice Calendar The weekend left one counter-protester dead and dozens injured, and it eventually produced felony convictions against 11 marchers and a federal civil verdict of more than $9 million against rally organizers.
What Happened That Night
Participants bought many of the torches at a local Walmart earlier that day.2Forbes. A Short History of Torches and Intimidation They converged on the UVA grounds and surrounded a group of counter-protesters who had gathered at the base of a statue of Thomas Jefferson. The encirclement escalated into physical clashes before the crowd dispersed.3CNN. White Nationalists Tiki Torch March
Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Hingely later estimated that between 300 and 400 people took part in the march overall.429News. 2017 Torch Rally Prosecutions Likely at an End
The Rally the Next Day and Heather Heyer’s Death
The permitted Saturday rally at Emancipation Park descended into violent clashes between white nationalists and counter-protesters. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency. That afternoon, 20-year-old James Alex Fields Jr. drove his car at high speed into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring more than 30 others.5U.S. Department of Justice. Ohio Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Federal Hate Crimes
Heyer was a legal assistant and civil rights activist from Virginia. Her employer said she joined the counter-demonstration to show that her community rejected the views of neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.6The Guardian. Woman Killed at White Supremacist Rally in Charlottesville Named A section of the downtown street where she died was later renamed Honorary Heather Heyer Way.7NPR. Foundation That Promotes Social Justice Magnifies Heather Heyer’s Legacy Her mother, Susan Bro, established the Heather Heyer Foundation and later helped lobby for the Khalid Jabara and Heather Heyer NO HATE Act, which was signed into law in 2021 and mandates stiffer penalties for hate crimes and incentives for improved tracking.8NPR. The Charlottesville Rally 5 Years Later
Fields was convicted of first-degree murder in Virginia state court in December 2018 after a jury rejected his claim of self-defense. A state judge sentenced him to life plus 419 years.9CBS News. James Alex Fields Jr. Sentenced to Life Plus 419 Years He then pleaded guilty to 29 federal hate crime charges under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, admitting he drove into the crowd intending to kill because of the actual and perceived race, religion, and national origin of its members. On June 28, 2019, he received a federal life sentence.5U.S. Department of Justice. Ohio Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Federal Hate Crimes
Criminal Charges Against the Torch Marchers
For nearly six years, no criminal charges were brought against anyone for the Friday night march itself. The initial Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney, Robert Tracci, declined to prosecute.10WVTF. Tiki Torch Marchers Face Charges in Charlottesville His successor, Jim Hingely, took a different approach and convened a grand jury that issued the first indictments in February 2023. Virginia has no statute of limitations for felonies, which made the delayed prosecutions possible.11BBC. Charlottesville Torch Rally Marchers Indicted
Each marcher was charged with one count of burning an object with the intent to intimidate under Virginia Code ยง 18.2-423.01, a Class 6 felony carrying up to five years in prison. The first three defendants whose names were unsealed were William Zachary Smith of Texas, Tyler Bradley Dykes of South Carolina, and Dallas Medina of Ohio.12NPR. Multiple Torch-Carrying Marchers in the Charlottesville Rally Are Indicted
By mid-2024, 11 people had been charged with intimidation by fire, and five had pleaded guilty to the felony.13VPM. Trial for Unite the Right Charlottesville Torch Rally The first case to reach trial, that of Jacob Joseph Dix of Ohio, ended in a hung jury in June 2024. In August 2024, Vermont resident Ryan Roy entered an Alford plea (maintaining innocence while acknowledging the evidence could support a conviction) to a lesser misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct and received a one-year suspended sentence with no prison time.14Seven Days VT. Vermont Man Pleads Guilty for Role in Charlottesville Rally
In April 2025, Hingely said the prosecutions were “very likely at an end,” with 11 total convictions secured. He noted that charges had been reserved for those who explicitly broke the law and added, “Free speech in our country means that you can say terrible, hateful things and still not commit a crime.”429News. 2017 Torch Rally Prosecutions Likely at an End
The Sines v. Kessler Civil Verdict
While criminal charges against marchers stalled, victims pursued the organizers through a federal civil lawsuit, Sines v. Kessler, filed in the Western District of Virginia. The plaintiffs sued more than a dozen white nationalist leaders and organizations, alleging a conspiracy to harass, intimidate, and commit violence over the rally weekend.
On November 19, 2021, a jury found the defendants liable on counts of civil conspiracy, violations of Virginia’s hate-crime statute, assault and battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and awarded more than $26 million in damages. Jurors deadlocked on two federal conspiracy counts, and a mistrial was declared on those claims.15Washington Post. Charlottesville Verdict Live Updates The district court later reduced punitive damages from roughly $24 million to $350,000 under Virginia’s statutory cap, and awarded plaintiffs about $3.18 million in attorneys’ fees and more than $468,000 in costs.16Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. Sines v. Kessler
Both sides appealed. On July 1, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the jury’s verdict in its entirety. The appellate court also held that Virginia’s punitive damages cap applies on a per-plaintiff basis rather than as a single aggregate cap, which reinstated approximately $2.8 million in punitive damages and brought the total award, including compensatory damages and attorneys’ fees, to more than $9 million.17Cooley. Fourth Circuit Affirms Charlottesville Conspiracy Verdict Later appeals by Richard Spencer, Jeff Schoep, and Christopher Cantwell were all affirmed, with Spencer’s resolved in an unpublished opinion in March 2025 and Schoep’s and Cantwell’s affirmed in June 2025. The case is now closed.18CourtListener. Sines v. Kessler Docket
Several defendants described the lawsuit as crippling to their work. Richard Spencer called it “totally detrimental” and “financially crippling.” Michael Hill of the League of the South said the organization could not move forward with fundraising for a new building because of the litigation.19Integrity First for America. Charlottesville Case Defendants
Why the Tiki Torch Became a Symbol
Before August 2017, tiki torches were associated with backyard barbecues and mosquito control. The march gave them what The Guardian described as “sinister connotations” and drew comparisons to the torchlight parades of 1930s Nazi Germany.20The Guardian. Neo-Nazi Tiki Torch Statue Holocaust historian Waitman Beorn said that while cheap tiki torches might seem laughable, they functioned as an imitation of Nazi regalia and echoed the burning crosses of the Klan, delivering a “visual message of hate and intimidation.”2Forbes. A Short History of Torches and Intimidation
TIKI Brand Products, a subsidiary of Lamplight Farms owned by W.C. Bradley Co., publicly disavowed the march. The company said on Facebook that it was “not associated in any way with the events that took place in Charlottesville” and did “not support their message or the use of our products in this way.”21KCRA. Tiki Torch Company: We Have Nothing to Do With White Nationalism CEO Marc Olivie said the company’s staff was “appalled and saddened” that its products had been “used by people who promote bigotry and hatred.”22CBS News. Tiki Torch CEO Says He’s Appalled at Protesters
The widely circulated photographs also had direct consequences for individual marchers. The Anti-Defamation League documented cases of participants being identified from the images and losing jobs, being ostracized, or facing arrest.23ADL. Charlottesville: One Year Later
Where Things Stand Now
Fields remains in federal prison serving a life sentence. The criminal prosecutions of torch marchers have wound down with 11 felony convictions. The civil case against rally organizers is fully resolved, with all appeals affirmed and total damages exceeding $9 million.
The Robert E. Lee statue whose proposed removal set the rally in motion was taken down in July 2021 after years of litigation.24Encyclopedia Virginia. Robert Edward Lee Sculpture In December 2021, the Charlottesville City Council voted to donate the roughly 10,000-pound bronze to a coalition project called “Swords into Plowshares,” led by the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. In October 2023, the statue was disassembled and melted at an out-of-state foundry, its bronze poured into ingots intended for a new work of public art.25NPR. Confederate General Robert E. Lee Monument Melted Down As of early 2026, three design firms are under consideration, with a selection expected to be announced on July 10, 2026, the fifth anniversary of the statue’s removal.2629News. Designs Unveiled for Pieces Made from Charlottesville’s Dismantled Robert E. Lee Statue
On August 12, 2025, community members gathered on Honorary Heather Heyer Way for the eighth anniversary of the rally. The patch of ground where the Lee statue once stood is now empty.27WSET. Charlottesville Remembers Eight Years Since the Unite the Right Rally Turned Deadly