White nationalist Planer sentenced in violent 2016 Capitol riot that left 10 hurt
The sole white supremacist arrested in a violent 2016 clash between neo-Nazis and anti-fascist counterprotesters that left nearly a dozen wounded outside the state Capitol was sentenced Wednesday in Sacramento.
William Scott Planer was sentenced in Sacramento Superior Court to time served on felony assault charges connected to the bloody June 2016 riot and was set to be released from Sacramento County custody. Ten were injured in the wild fracas at the rally of Golden State Skinheads and the Tradtionalist Worker Party. Many of the injured were stabbed.
Planer had been in Sacramento County custody on the assault charges since his extradition from Colorado in 2017, where he had been held on charges he vandalized a Colorado Springs synagogue.
Planer, 36, faced trial early this year on the assault charge after rejecting earlier plea offers from Sacramento prosecutors. Prosecutors at trial showed video footage of the riot that appeared to show Planer taking a batting stance with a large pole or stick before striking a counterprotester.
But Sacramento jurors in February deadlocked 8-4 to convict after five ballots and days of deliberation and Sacramento Superior Court Judge Stacy Boulware Eurie declared a mistrial. “It’s clear that Mr. Planer hadn’t gone (to the rally) to incite violence,” defense attorney Michelle Spaulding said following the hung verdict, saying Planer’s act “centers on his reaction to a perceived threat.”
Planer remained in custody as Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office prosecutors considered retrying the case before agreeing to plead no contest April 30 to the assault charge.
The violence at the Capitol ignited criticism and controversy from California Highway Patrol’s perceived lax response to the bloodshed; to the agency’s year-long 2,000-page investigation that led to just four arrests; to claims from counterprotesters that they were targeted by law enforcement whom they accused of working in concert with the white nationalist groups.
The three counterprotesters arrested in the June 2016 Capitol riots await a September trial date on assault charges connected to the fighting.
Berkeley teacher-activist Yvonne Felarca; Brown Beret member Michael Williams, who provided security for the counterprotesters; and Porfirio Paz, remain free on bail awaiting Sacramento Superior Court hearings ahead of the September date.
Attorneys for Felarca, Paz and Williams, known to their supporters as the “Sacramento 3,” have maintained the three were defending themselves from attack by the hate groups.
“It should never be a felony to defend yourself against fascists,” Williams’ attorney Mark Reichel said in January.
Felarca and Williams face felony assault charges. Paz’s charge was reduced to a misdemeanor at the trio’s January preliminary hearing.