Man sentenced to 3 years on riot charge in Virginia rally

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — A member of a white supremacist group has been sentenced to a little over three years in prison for violence at a 2017 white nationalist rally in Virginia and political rallies in California.

Benjamin Daley was the first of three members of the Rise Above Movement to be sentenced Friday.

U.S. District Judge Norman Moon sentenced Daley to five months less than the sentence prosecutors sought.

Defense attorneys argued that prosecutors had not proved that a hate crime sentencing enhancement should apply. Daley’s lawyer said Moon denied the enhancement for all three men.

Members of the group were caught on camera punching, kicking and choking counterprotesters before a planned “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville. The men pleaded guilty to conspiring to riot.

Sentencing hearings were continuing Friday afternoon.