A third individual was convicted Monday in connection with brutally beating a counterprotester inside a parking garage during last summer’s deadly “Unite the Right” demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Daniel Patrick Borden, 19, was found guilty of malicious wounding, a felony, after entering a plea in Charlottesville Circuit Court concerning the Aug. 12 assault of DeAndre Harris, a black man who was savagely beaten by multiple “Unite the Right” participants on the morning of their now infamous far-right rally.
Borden, of Ohio, entered an Alford plea, meaning he didn’t admit guilt but acknowledged that prosecutors have sufficient evidence to convict him at trial.
Judge Rick Moore subsequently found him guilty of assault and set a sentencing hearing for Oct. 1, at which point Borden will face the possibility of being ordered to spend up to 20 years behind bars.
Video footage of the assault showed Harris being beaten by six people, including a man wearing a white construction helmet with the words “Commie Killer” written on the front. Authorities ultimately identified the helmet-clad assailant as Borden and took him into custody nearly two weeks later.
In the video, Borden can be seen striking Harris with a wooden object while the latter is on the ground being assaulted by others.
“His argument is he didn’t have malice in his heart or mind when he did this,” defense attorney Mike Hallahan said of Borden, C-Ville reported.
Mr. Harris, 20, was hospitalized after the incident with a broken wrist and a head injury that required 10 staples, according to his attorney.
Two other individuals implicated in the assault, Jacob Goodwin of Arkansas and Alex Ramos of Georgia, were convicted in connection the the beating earlier this year and are scheduled to be sentenced in August. A fourth man, Tyler Watkins Davis, is awaiting trial.
“Unite the Right” was billed as a rally held to protest the slated removal of a Confederate statue from a park in Charlottesville, but clashes quickly broke out between counterprotesters and participants include white nationalists and neo-Nazis, prompting officials to cancel the event before it ever officially got underway. A person was later killed when an individual identified as an “Unite the Right” participant drove a car into a crowd of counterprotesters, and two police officers died in a helicopter crash while monitoring the chaos.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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