Man sentenced to prison for beating black man at Charlottesville rally

An Ohio man on Monday was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for his part in beating a black man at the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Virginia. 

Daniel Borden received a 20-year sentence; however, most of it was suspended, according to The Associated Press. The news service reported that his active sentence is 3 years and 10 months. 

{mosads}Borden was one of four men charged with beating DeAndre Harris at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017. Borden entered an Alford plea to malicious wounding in 2018, according to AP. 

He did not admit guilt but accepted that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him of a crime. 

Borden said during his sentencing that he is not a bigot and that he is remorseful, according to WVIR-TV, a local news station in Charlottesville. He also issued an apology to Harris. Harris was not present in the courtroom. 

“As with all prosecutions surrounding the August 12, 2017, attack of DeAndre Harris, this office is hopeful that today’s outcome brings some measure of solace and closure to him and the community at large,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Joseph Platania said, according to AP. 

Borden’s sentence comes more than a year after white supremacists clashed with counterprotesters during a rally that had been set up to oppose the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

The rally turned deadly when James Alex Fields Jr. rammed his car through a crowd of counterprotesters, killing a woman, Heather Heyer.

Fields was convicted of first-degree murder in December, with the jury recommending a life sentence. His official sentencing is scheduled to take place in late March.