Mistrial declared for man charged with using a torch to intimidate at white nationalist rally

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Mistrial declared for man charged with using a torch to intimidate at white nationalist rally

2024-06-07 22:47 Last Updated At：22:51

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — A Virginia judge declared a mistrial after jurors deadlocked on charges against a man accused of using a flaming torch to intimidate counterprotesters during a 2017 gathering of white nationalists in Charlottesville.

The trial for Jacob Joseph Dix of Clarksville, Ohio, was the first test of a state law that makes it a felony to burn something to intimidate and cause fear of injury or death.

After deliberating for about 12 hours over two days, jurors in Albemarle County Circuit Court announced Thursday that they were deadlocked. Judge H. Thomas Padrick declared a mistrial Thursday evening.

Indictments unsealed last year showed 11 people had been charged with intimidation by fire, but prosecutors have not said whether additional defendants were also charged. Five people have pleaded guilty to the charge. Dix was the first to go on trial.

Legislators passed the 2002 law after the state Supreme Court ruled that a cross-burning statute used to prosecute Ku Klux Klan members was unconstitutional.

On Tuesday, prosecutors showed the jury videos of 300 to 400 white nationalists marching through the campus of the University of Virginia, carrying torches, shouting Nazi slogans and surrounding a much smaller group of anti-racist counterprotesters, an event that ended in chaos and fighting between the two groups.

Dix’s lawyer, Peter Frazier, told the jury nothing Dix did the night of Aug. 11, 2017, was criminal, and that the chants he joined in, including, “You will not replace us!” were free speech protected by the First Amendment.

Henrico County Commonwealth's Attorney Shannon Taylor, who was appointed as a special prosecutor, said she intends to try the case again and will see if there is any other evidence to pursue.

“We appreciated the enormous amount of time that the jury took to consider this case of first impression," she said.

After the clash at the university, violence broke out the next day when a “Unite the Right” rally was planned. After police declared the gathering an unlawful assembly and the crowd began to disperse, James Alex Fields Jr., a white supremacist from Maumee, Ohio, intentionally rammed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one and injuring dozens. Fields is serving a life sentence for murder and hate crimes.

Cities worldwide hold subdued Christmas Eve celebrations amid conflicts

2024-12-25 09:06 Last Updated At：09:10

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Bethlehem marked another somber Christmas Eve on Tuesday in the traditional birthplace of Jesus under the shadow of war in Gaza.

The cheer that typically descends on the West Bank during Christmas week were nowhere to be found. The festive lights and giant tree that normally decorate Manger Square were missing, as were the throngs of foreign tourists.

Palestinian scouts marched silently through the streets, a departure from their usual raucous brass marching band. Security forces arranged barriers near the Church of the Nativity, built atop the spot where Jesus is believed to have been born. A young boy stood holding a pile of balloons for sale, but gave up because there were no customers to buy them.

The cancellation of Christmas festivities is a severe blow to the town's economy. Tourism accounts for an estimated 70% of Bethlehem’s income — almost all from the Christmas season. The number of visitors to Bethlehem plunged from a pre-COVID high of around 2 million per year in 2019 to fewer than 100,000 in 2024, said Jiries Qumsiyeh, the spokesperson for the Palestinian Tourism Ministry.

A surge of violence in the West Bank, where more than 800 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire and dozens of Israelis have been killed in militant attacks, has greatly stalled tourism. Palestinian officials do not provide a breakdown of how many of the deceased are civilians and how many are fighters.

Since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that sparked the war, access to and from Bethlehem and other towns in the West Bank has been limited, with long lines of motorists waiting to pass through Israeli military checkpoints. The restrictions have prevented some 150,000 Palestinians from leaving the territory to work in Israel, causing the Israeli economy to contract by 25%.

In the Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel, Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took more than 250 Israeli hostages. Israeli officials believe that around 100 hostages remain in captivity in the Gaza Strip.

Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, noted the shuttered shops and empty streets and expressed hope that next year would be better.

“This has to be the last Christmas that is so sad,” he told hundreds of people gathered in Manger Square, where normally tens of thousands would congregate.

Pizzaballa held a special pre-Christmas Mass in the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City. Several Palestinian Christians told the Associated Press that they had been displaced in the church since the war began in October of last year with barely enough food and water.

“We hope by next year at the same day we’d be able to celebrate Christmas at our homes and go to Bethlehem,” said Najla Tarazi, a displaced woman who prayed for the war to end. “We don’t feel happy.”

Bethlehem is an important center in the history of Christianity, but Christians make up only a small percentage of the roughly 14 million residents spread across the Holy Land. There are about 182,000 in Israel, 50,000 in the West Bank and Jerusalem and 1,300 in Gaza, according to the U.S. State Department.

Elsewhere, worshippers found connection despite difficult times.

Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris celebrated its first Christmas Eve Masses since a devastating fire ravaged the medieval landmark in 2019.

About 2,000 people joined an afternoon Mass — one of four held on Tuesday — including worshippers and other visitors marveling at the restoration of the recently reopened cathedral. Some American tourists in Paris crafted their trip to ensure they could attend Christmas Eve services at Notre Dame.

“They did such an amazing job,” said visitor Aly Beinert. “It looks beautiful. It blew us away."

The Paris Archbishop symbolically reopened Notre Dame’s grand wooden doors on Dec. 7 with three resounding knocks, with guests including President-elect Donald Trump, U.S. first lady Jill Biden, Britain’s Prince William and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In Saydnaya, Syria, a large crowd gathered near a historic monastery on Christmas Eve to witness the lighting of a towering tree adorned with glowing green lights.

The celebration offered a rare moment of joy in a city scarred by over a decade of war and its infamous prison, where tens of thousands were held. Families and friends stood by the illuminated tree — some wearing Santa hats, others watching from rooftops — while a band played festive music and fireworks lit up the sky.

“This year is different — there’s happiness, victory and a new birth for Syria and a new birth for Christ,” said Houssam Saadeh, one attendee. Another, Joseph Khabbaz, expressed hope for unity across all sects and religions in Syria, dismissing recent Christmas tree vandalism as “isolated incidents.”

At City Church in Madison, Wisconsin, lead pastor Tom Flaherty urged congregants at a candlelight Christmas Eve service to open their hearts to God’s grace.

“Happiness comes from what happens. Joy comes from a much deeper place, and it doesn’t matter what’s going on around you,” Flaherty said. “So number one, joy comes from God’s love, and forgiveness.”

Eight days earlier, there was a deadly shooting in the school on the church’s campus.

Over the weekend, the congregation hosted a funeral for Rubi Patricia Vergara, the 14-year-old freshman killed when another student opened fire. A teacher was also killed and several others injured before the shooter shot herself and later died at a hospital, police said.

American Airlines briefly grounded flights across the U.S. on Tuesday due to a technical problem just as the Christmas travel season kicked into overdrive. Winter weather threatened more potential problems for those planning to fly or drive.

In Virginia, hundreds of sailors and their loved ones got an early Christmas present when the USS Cole docked at its home port in Norfolk after seven months at sea. Families bundled in coats and blankets, shed tears of gratitude and held signs bearing the sailors' names and photos.

Volunteers in Colorado Springs, Colorado, answered calls Tuesday from curious children inquiring about Santa's location. At least 100,000 kids call into the North American Aerospace Defense Command each year to track Santa's whereabouts. NORAD’s beloved Santa tracking tradition has endured since the Cold War, when a Colorado newspaper mistakenly printed a phone number for Santa that connected kids to the joint U.S. and Canadian defense command.

In the port of Barcelona, Spain, volunteers from the faith-based ministry Stella Maris visited seven ships docked there on Christmas Eve to deliver Nativity scenes and the local specialty of turrón (nougat candy) to seafarers.

The volunteers met seafarers from India, the Philippines, Turkey and elsewhere, said Ricard Rodríguez-Martos, a Catholic deacon and former merchant marine captain who leads Stella Maris in this major Mediterranean harbor.

A snowstorm in the Balkans stranded drivers and downed power lines Tuesday, but some saw the beauty in it.

“I’m actually glad it's falling,” said driver Mirsad Jasarevic in Zenica, Bosnia. “We did not have snow for Christmas for 17 years here, and now is the time for wonderful white Christmas.”

Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City, Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut, Jeffrey Schaeffer and Marine Lesprit in Paris, and Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis contributed to this report.