Jason Kessler, the organizer of the so-called "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, has been indicted for perjury related to an incident in January. A capias has been issued for his arrest.
A grand jury in Albemarle County issued an indictment for Kessler on a felony perjury charge over a sworn statement he made earlier this year, according to local media outlet CBS19.
Kessler gave a statement to a magistrate claiming that he was assaulted by James Taylor while collecting signatures to have Wes Bellamy removed from the Charlottesville City Council.
But a video later revealed that Kessler was the one who attacked Taylor. Assault charges against Taylor were dropped in March, while Kessler ended up pleading guilty to assault in April.
"I'll admit that what I did was not legal," Kessler said in April. "I was having a bad day. I've never done anything like this before and it will never happen again."
"He and his buddy came over, they scribbled on my petition and vandalized it," he added. "James didn't want to have a conversation with me, he yelled you're a....and he called me a name. I felt threatened and I hit him to get him away from me."
Kessler was the lead organizer behind the August 12 white nationalists rally in Charlottesville, where one counter-protester was killed by a white supremacist.
According to CBS19, the perjury charge is a class 5 felony, which carries a sentence of up to ten years in prison and up to a $2,500 fine.
