tonight, a major verdict against the white nationalist who organized and participated in the deadly rally in charlottesville, virginia more than four years ago. a jury in the civil trial holding them accountable for the violence and ordering them to pay millions of dollars in damages. cnn s brian todd explains it all. reporter: tonight the jury awarded the plaintiffs in the unite the right trial more than $26 million in punitive damages on several claims. among them, finding five defendants were liable for racial religious or ethnic harassment or violence under a virginia state law and that all the defendants participated in a conspiracy. i think this verdict today is a message that this country does not tolerate violence based on racial and religious hatred in any form. reporter: in addition, james alex fields jr., the driver of the car that plowed into the crowd of counter protesters were
state conspiracy claim and other claims. the jury said it could not reach a verdict on two federal conspiracy claims however. that as for the second day in a row, the committee investigating the riot at the capitol on january 6th issued a new bach of subpoenas that, this time focussing on right wing extremist groups involved in the attack including the oath keepers and proud boys. i want to go to the trial in the three men accused in the murder of ahmaud arbery. martin sallve sahas that now. reporter: tonight, the men accused of killing a black man running in a neighborhood. in the controversial case is in the hands of one black and 11 white jurors. with that, ladies and gentlemen, i ask you retire to the jury room. reporter: the prosecution getting the final say retelling how an armed father and son gregory and travis mcmichael aided by a neighbor pursued
impact of the law on people s lives. thank you. from the cheap seats, same back at you. [ laughter ] there is your boy. making his arguments. we ll see how it goes with the jury. i can t wait to see what you say about it. i ll be watching. thank you, chris. appreciate you. take care. this is don lemon tonight. i m laura coates in for don lemon. another big night of headlines. the jury in the trial of three white men accused of murder in the killing of ahmaud arbery wrapping now the first day of deliberations and due back in court at 8:30 tomorrow morning. meanwhile in charlottesville it attorneys out there is a price for spreading hate in america and that price is $26 million. a jury awarded more than $26 million in damages after finding the white nationalists who organized and participated in a violent 2017 rally liable on a
shocking comment to the jackson comment to reverend jackson to black pastors generally and he was the one also who said that this trial, the daring to put these three men on trial is like a 2021 lynching a term that should never be used in a courtroom anymore unless you re acknowledging what happened 50 years ago and codoubles down on that. i find this disturbing and a closing argument we re speaking about and the comment made by the female attorney. i d like to see these are dog whistles but sound like bull horns directly to the 11 white jurors. you know, we have that actual comment. i want to play that, mark, to bring that at the forefront again as much as i hate having heard it the first time, it s important for people to understand what happened.
tonight, a major verdict against the white nationalist who organized and participated in the deadly rally in charlottesville, virginia more than four years ago. a jury in the civil trial holding them accountable for the violence and ordering them to pay millions of dollars in damages. cnn s brian todd and explains i all. reporter: tonight the jury awarded the plaintiffs in the unite the right trial more than $26 million in punitive damages on several claims. among them, finding five defendants were liable for racial religious or ethnic harassment or violence under a virginia state law and that all the dvefendants participated ina cons conspiracy. i think this verdict today is a message that this country does not tolerate violence based on racial and religious hatred in any form. reporter: in addition, james