The white supremacist and 12 others sought to have charges of conspiring to commit racially motivated violence dismissed

The white nationalist Richard Spencer boasted “we own these streets” during a conspiracy to commit racially motivated violence last summer in Charlottesville, Virginia, a court has heard.

On 11 August, neo-Nazis and other white nationalist supporters marched through the University of Virginia campus with torches, chanting racist abuse. A day later, as attendees of a rally clashed with counter-protesters in town, a car was driven into the crowd, killing 32-year-old activist Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others.

A civil lawsuit accuses 25 far-right individuals and groups of conspiring to commit the violence. At a federal courthouse in Charlottesville on Thursday, Judge Norman Moon heard arguments brought by 19 of them seeking to have the case thrown out, claiming they had a first amendment right to free expression and should not be held directly responsible for the bloodshed.

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But Karen Dunn, an attorney representing 10 Virginia residents who brought the suit last October, told the court that, following the march with torches, Spencer declared to a crowd: “We own these streets. We occupy these grounds.”

She argued this was an “overt” claim for credit and “sufficient to keep him in the case at the motion to dismiss stage”, comparing Spencer to a drugs gang boss who says “well done” to one of his foot soldiers.

Dunn added: “The leaders in a conspiracy didn’t always have their specific fingerprints on the conspiracy but they did organise it and they took credit for it after the fact.”

Moon questioned whether merely claiming credit for an event was sufficient evidence of Spencer’s involvement. Dunn insisted: “It is evidence of his participation in the conspiracy to do violence … Mr Spencer was not just some passive participant in this. He was an organiser, he was a leader. He was the person who, after this march took place, stood before the crowd to say the objective had been achieved.”

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An official court order shows that Spencer, a notorious alt-right leader who wants to create an “ethno-state” for white people, was expected to address the judge on Thursday. But he did not appear in court, where about 80 people were gathered in the public gallery. He told the Guardian by phone that this was due to a “security issue”. Instead, despite struggling to raise legal fees, he was represented by attorney John DiNucci, who sought to downplay the significance of Spencer’s remarks last August.

“That doesn’t prove there was a conspiracy … There is certainly no allegation I can find that Mr Spencer or another defendant intended for a vehicle to cause death or injury,” DiNucci told the court.

The court heard how white nationalists used private online chatrooms such as Discord to encourage the bringing of weapons, wearing of uniforms and a march with torches that had not been granted a permit.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘The fact the defendants are scary-looking individuals and doing scary-looking things isn’t assaultive,’ lawyers argued. Photograph: Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Attorney Roberta Kaplan, also for the plaintiffs, told the court: “We’re talking about racially motivated violence as a result of a carefully coordinated conspiracy … What we allege is that armed groups of men wearing Nazi insignia, carrying weapons, marched around the synagogue not only chanting Nazi slogans but saying they would burn it down.”

She added that online communications had included discussing the legality of running someone over with a car as well as overtly racist statements such as: “If you beat up a nigger, it’s not really beating someone.”

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But attorney James Kolenich, representing most of the defendants, denied that the elements of a conspiracy had been established. “What’s not clear from the complaint is that there was a pre-existing plan to commit violence … We are arguing that torches, chants, raising your voices are part of a political rally and protected under the first amendment. The fact the defendants are scary-looking individuals and doing scary-looking things isn’t assaultive.”

Michael Peinovich, a white nationalist, spoke on his own behalf in court, acknowledging that his podcasts are “bombastic”, “shocking” and “offensive” to some people. “I’m the kind of person for which the first amendment was designed,” he claimed. He insisted that there was nothing he had broadcast or tweeted that could be construed as inciting violence.

As the hearing ended, Moon indicated that he would reach a decision “reasonably soon”.

