Richard Preston found guilty

[Yonnie3]

Last edited Tue May 8, 2018, 04:36 PM - Edit history (2)

Just getting some information that Richard Preston who fired a gun at the August 12 demonstration is pleading guilty.

I am trying to confirm.

Edit: It was not a guilty plea. It was nolo contendere. This means he accepts a guilty verdict without admitting guilt. I am updating the title.

[Yonnie3]

1. Court record shows it's true

Defendant:
PRESTON, RICHARD WILSON

Charge: SHOOT FIREARM, 1000FT OF SCHL
Code Section: 18.2-280
Charge Type: Felony Class:4
Offense Date: 08/12/2017
Arrest Date: 08/30/2017

Hearings

# Date Time Type Room Plea Duration Jury Result
1 12/18/2017 9:30AM Grand Jury True Bill
2 01/04/2018 1:00PM Bond Granted
3 05/08/2018 11:00AM Arraignment Nolo Contendere Tried
4 05/09/2018 9:30AM Sentencing

[Yonnie3]

2. Penalties

Class 4 felonies are punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and have a minimum prison sentence of 2 years, with a fine of up to $100,000.

Wondering if he was allowed to plead to a lesser offense.

One by one.

It continues ...

[Yonnie3]

3. Video of the gunfiire

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2017/08/28/gun-fired-in-charlottesville-crowd-orig-lc.cnn

[Leghorn21]

4. Thank you yet again for your continuing reports on these nazi scumsuckers, Yonnie!!

Whasssuupp, PRESTON

[appalachiablue]

5. Today, May 8 from Think Progress

'KKK Leader Who Fired Gun at Charlottesville Rally Facing Up to Ten Years in Prison,' May 8, Think Progress

A white supremacist who said he was a Ku Klux Klan imperial wizard has been found guilty of illegally firing a weapon during last year’s violent “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Richard W. Preston, 53, pleaded no contest on Tuesday to the charge of firing a weapon within 1,000 feet of a school. He had initially planned to go to trial saying that he acted in self-defense, but decided to abandon that strategy. Preston is due to be sentenced tomorrow and faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Footage obtained by the ACLU showed Preston leaving Charlottesville’s Emancipation Park with a large number of other white nationalists. Preston then abruptly turned around and drew a handgun, pointed it towards an African-American counter-protester, and appeared to say “Get back n*****.” He then fired a single shot before turning around and walking away past a line of police officers.

In an October court hearing Preston said he had felt threatened because one man looked as though he was going to throw a newspaper box at him and another who was carrying a nail laden stick.
Preston said he then fired his weapon when a friend of his was threatened by a counter-protester wielding a makeshift flamethrower, according the Charlottesville Daily Progress. The counter-protester who Preston said he felt “threatened by” was Corey A. Long, 23, who is facing trial in June for misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and assault. Activists have been campaigning for his release.

“For justice to actually happen, we need to be prosecuting the people who are actually on the side of white supremacy,” Grace Aheron of the anti-racism group Showing Up for Racial Justice, told NBC29. “Not the people who were defending their community.”
Preston is the second white supremacist this week who has been found guilty of violence at the Unite the Right rally. Last Wednesday, 23-year-old Jacob Scott Goodwin was found guilty of malicious wounding, with a jury recommending ten years in prison. Goodwin was filmed viciously beating 20-year-old DeAndre Harris in a Charlottesville parking lot, breaking his arm and leaving him with a spinal injury. Goodwin had claimed he acted in self-defense...continued.

https://thinkprogress.org/kkk-leader-who-fired-gun-at-charlottesville-rally-facing-up-to-ten-years-in-prison-7232c796c513/

[marble falls]

6. Don't worry about it, he's guilty.