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 last August.
The confrontation took place after a friend of Harris attempted to take a Confederate flag, widely considered a symbol of white supremacy, away from one of the marchers.
Pictures and a video of Harris’ 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, who is of Puerto Rican descent, 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, charged for the beating of Harris, pleaded guilty last May and will hear his sentence on October 1.
Harris himself was charged with assault and battery, but a court in Charlottesville found him not guilty in March.
Counter-protesters and anti-racist demonstrators gathered to confront those gathered for the rally, and in the ensuing violence, Heather Heyer, 31, was killed when James Fields Jr allegedly drove his car through a crowd.
