Three Men Guilty in Racially Motivated Attack

The three men accused in a racially motivated attack on a lone biracial man in Courtenay, British Columbia, have been found guilty of common assault. In July, 2009, the victim, Jay Phillips, was captured on video being swarmed, punched and kicked by David Samuel White, 19, Adam David Huber, 25, and Robert William Roy Rodgers, 25, while being taunted with racist abuse.

Three Courtenay men guilty of assault in case with racial overtones
Comox Valley Echo

July 29, 2010 12:03 PM

COURTENAY — Three white men who fought a lone black man in a Courtenay parking lot have been found guilty of common assault.

"On a soft summer evening, in the beautiful Comox Valley, a very ugly incident took place," said Judge Peter Doherty. "Three young white men, fuelled by alcohol and testosterone and their own immaturity, crossed paths with a black man and lives changed forever.

"The acid fog of racism permeates this case."

The incident occurred on July 3 last year after Adam David Huber, Robert William Roy Rodgers and David Samuel White had spent the afternoon drinking beer and tubing on the Puntledge River.

As they returned home, they decided to stop for a burger. As Huber and Rodgers rode in the cab of the pickup White, riding in the box, hurled a racial slur at black man Jay Phillips as they passed him on the road.

Phillips responded by swearing at White and throwing his water bottle at the truck.

"Mr. White then said 'F*** you, you f***ing nigger, we're going to come back and kill you and your family'," said Doherty.

"What Mr. White said was ugly, racist and provoking. It is not surprising, then ... that (Mr. Phillips) was enraged."

The fight that ensued, widely viewed on the video-sharing site YouTube, brought unwanted international attention to the Comox Valley.

But Doherty said the viral video is misleading. It accurately shows a segment of the altercation, but an independent witness who saw the beginning of the fracas confirmed that Phillips invited the three men to a fistfight.

"Mr. Phillips was angry to the point of being entirely irrational," said Doherty. "In his quite understandable blind rage, he wanted to strike out and (was) entirely willing to take on all of his tormenters."

That, however, does not end the matter. When Phillips was knocked to the ground near the end of the YouTube video he was pummeled with punches and kicked in the ribs.

It was three kicks to Phillips torso, delivered by Rodgers, that convicted the three men.

Those kicks were outside the bounds of a fistfight, said Doherty, and Phillips' ribs were sore for about two months. As such, the injuries constitute bodily harm and that invalidated Phillips' prior consent to fight.

"One of the risks participants assume in (a three-on-one) altercation is that one of their number will do something that vitiates consent," said Doherty.

"All three individuals become party to the offence and, therefore, all three are found guilty of common assault."

Huber, Rodgers and White sat impassively as Doherty delivered his verdict. But a few minutes later Huber, who has spent significant time behind bars since the incident occurred, appeared stressed.

Doherty noted that neither Rodgers nor Huber hurled racial slurs, only White.

Phillips' mother Kirsten said that she is beginning to feel sorry for the three young men convicted of assaulting her son, but still hopes they will spend time behind bars for their actions.

"Their stupidity and drinking ... is going to maybe put them away for a little while," she said. "I don't care what the judge says or anybody else says. It was racially motivated and that's the end of it."

She said the high-profile incident has woken the community up to the racism that sits quietly beneath the surface of civil society.

"Racial slurs hurled at (people) from car windows and such happen all the time," she said. "There are a lot of people that are angry about this, white people. They aren't racist themselves and they don't want anything to do with racism or racist people."

Crown prosecutor Bob Richardson said he would study Doherty's findings carefully before deciding whether or not to ask that the racial aspect of the crime be considered an aggravating factor under hate crime legislation.

A sentencing date has not yet been set, but the maximum penalty for common assault, even if it is deemed a hate crime, is six months jail.

Sentencing is now reported to be taking place on August 12, at which point it will be seen whether or not the attack is treated as a hate crime. As we’ve reported earlier, the blog Keep Courtenay Safe has been providing excellent coverage of the incident, including photographic evidence of White and Huber’s racial views.

Additional Links:

David White and Adam Huber Seen with Racist Imagery

David Samuel White Cross Burning

David White Pictured Hanging from a Noose on a Tree

More on Courtenay, BC Racial Assault Trial

As the mainstream media reported yesterday, and as we discussed in our article yesterday, the defence is trying to portray the accused as the real victims and that Jay Phillips, the person whose attack was captured on video and published to YouTube, was the aggressor. We understand the role of the defence is to be an advocate for your client, however we have some difficulty understanding how three men (four including the driver who didn't participate in the assault) driving a big truck would feel threatened by a lone man walking down the street.

The accused are also claiming that Mr. Phillips wasn't attacked because of his race. Sure, they may have shouted a few racial epithets, but that was in the heat of the moment and they really didn't mean it. Besides, Mr. Phillips egged them on.

Well, there are some folks who have been covering this case and now trial from day one. We would urge all of our readers to head on over to Keep Courtenay Safe as they have been doing an absolutely fantastic job of digging up information on the three accused, including photos that call into question the claims of the accused that there was no racial bias that motivated their attack on Mr. Phillips (we've received permission to post some of those photos they've uncovered here):


Once again these pictures and others, as well as the best coverage of the case, are found at Keep Courtenay Safe.

Trial Continues in Courtenay, BC Racial Attack

Back in July, Jay Phillips was attacked by three men shouting racial epithets in Courtenay, British Columbia. The attack, and the language used by the three men, was captured on video and posted to YouTube. Adam Huber and Robert Rodgers, both 25, and David White, 19, were soon arrested for the assault.

At the time, we noted that some boneheads were already playing the victim card and suggesting it was Mr. Phillips who was the antagonist. Well, it looks like this claim is being used by the defence now, despite video evidence that contradicts that very claim:

Two accused admit to racial slurs

By Erin Haluschak - Comox Valley Record
Published: May 28, 2010 10:00 AM
Updated: May 28, 2010 10:39 AM

During videotaped RCMP statements played in court Thursday, two men admitted racial slurs might have started an incident between them and another friend and a black man across the street in Courtenay last summer.

"He called us pussies — he wanted to take us all ... we called him some racial slurs," said David White, 19, to RCMP Const. Busch, during a voluntary statement recorded shortly after the July 3, 2009 fight with Jay Phillips, 39.

Each video of the accused, including that of Robert Rogers and Adam Huber, both, 25, was played in its entirety.

During questioning in the video, Huber admitted the group — including driver Justin Smith who did not participate in the melee — "probably really should have kept driving."

"What kind of racial slurs (were yelled?)," asked Const. Busch.

"Nigger," answered Huber, adding he was not the one who yelled the word. "I don't like the word myself. We're just a couple of roofers ... (the incident) was blown way out of proportion."

Earlier in the trial, Phillips testified all three men taunted him with the slur.

Neither Crown nor defence lawyers began closing arguments during the scheduled third and final day of the trial Thursday. Judge Peter Doherty agreed another date will be set June 3 for closing arguments.

If any of the men are found guilty, Crown prosecutors can seek the accused to be sentenced under hate crime legislation, which would be determined by the judge at sentencing.

photos@comoxvalleyrecord.com

When they made their first court appearance in July soon after their arrest, the three men accused of assaulting Mr. Phillips claimed that they felt threatened.

Considering there were three of them (four including the driver who doesn't appear to have participated in the assault), were driving in a half ton truck and Mr. Phillips was alone, we have to call into question this assertion. But then again, we're a bit cynical. Especially when you watch the video of them leaving the court after that first appearance.

Update on the Courtenay, BC Attackers: Sentencing

We received a note from our friends at, "Keep Courtney Safe" stating that Rogers, White, and Huber have been sentenced for a racially-based attack on Jay Phillips in July 2009. The three appear to have been sentenced in December. Although the minimum sentence looks like it should have been roughly 6 months, the three men received much lighter sentences.

Why We Do What We Do: "Apparent" Racial Attack in Courtenay, British Columbia

We don't believe for a moment that boneheads and racist extremists are going to take over the Canadian government, though conservative groups and websites (such as Free Dominion) mock the efforts of anti-racists by claiming that this is what we do believe. Our focus on extremists has more to do with the dangers they pose to individual Canadians. Throughout this blog we've shown ample evidence that this concern really is well founded; Aryan Guard members committing assaults and Toronto boneheads vandalizing a business and trying to intimidate the owner are only two examples. Sadly, we can add another example now:

Apparent B.C. hate crime attack posted on YouTube 

Last Updated: Monday, July 6, 2009 | 11:03 PM PT 

One man has been arrested and more arrests are expected, RCMP say, following a vicious assault in Courtenay, B.C., that police believe was racially motivated. 

Jay Phillips was attacked Friday in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant by three young men. A video of the incident posted on YouTube shows Phillips, 38, fighting back as he's surrounded by the trio. It's not known who shot the video or posted it on the website. 

Phillips, who is black, said the attack was unprovoked. 

He said a truckload of men drove by and started shouting racial epithets. "We're going to kill you, we're going to lynch you — really vile stuff." 

Phillips said the three men, who appear to be in their early 20s, circled back and confronted him. 

The men "got out of the truck, surrounded me, still calling me names, threatening me, threatening my family, saying this is our white town and you're not allowed here — stuff like that. 

"Then they all came at me and surrounded me." 

In a news release issued Monday, police said they are reviewing video evidence and questioning witnesses, but preliminary investigation indicates there may have been a racial element in the incident. 

Phillips, who said he's the target of racism on almost a daily basis, said he felt compelled to report this incident to police. 

"There's a lot of young kids of different races in this town and they may not have been as fortunate as me and I'd like to take care of these kids," he said. 

"I think everyone should be allowed to walk down the street with their head held up and proud of who they are. Everybody."

Below one can see the video that recorded the incident:



Thankfully Mr. Phillips appears alright, but that is hardly the point.

If anyone has any information, please don't hesitate to contact the police (yes, we know, but we do still think it's important to go through the proper channels) and us.

UPDATE: Can't say that we're all that surprised, but looks like Aryan Guard member Bill Noble is providing excuses and justification for the assault. Guess what? The boneheads are the victims:

We suppose that Billy is depending on people not being able to see what is happening in the video.

A History of Violence: 1960 - 2019

Well, here it is. We think that most will agree that this will be the best article posted on the blog, or at the very minimum the most informative and perhaps most useful.

The following is a living document. We will continue to add information as we continue our research and as new incidents occur. We encourage our readers to help us in this project. If you are aware of an incident that can be backed up with secondary sources, please share those incidents with us for inclusion in the timeline. These include any incidents that occurred before 1989 as well (we can, and have, change the title to fit the information). If you are unable to provide a secondary source for the incident you shared with us, we will try to do so ourselves.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *

Forward by Nosferatu200

We have Mark Fournier of Free Dominion to thank for this article. On June 28, 2010, Mark Fournier posted a lengthy piece concerning his take on the G20 fiasco in Toronto. While we have the entire missive saved, here is the relevant section that concerns us:

To keep this in context, 20 years prior to Mark Fournier having written this claim concerning ARC being responsible for, "almost every incident of serious political violence in the past twenty years," in Canada, the then eldest member of the Collective was 13 years old and living in a relatively isolated farming community two hours from the nearest big city. The author of this timeline was 7 years old. 

Since then Mark has continued to make this claim against ARC and the ARA, as well as continuing to claim that ARC and the ARA are the same organization:

 

 

We've gotten used to ARC and the ARA being claimed as being one and the same and while we have a good working relationship with ARA chapters, we are indeed different groups that have different methods. But even still, when Mark claims that ARC/ARA members are responsible for most of the political violence for the past 20 years, we began to wonder what that actually looked like.

If we exclude the histrionics (claims of forcible confinement, for example, which is laughable), Mark and the Free Dominion crowd have only three incidents that they keep talking about to prove that the ARA (and apparently ARC) are violent, organized, criminal terrorists:

1. An attack on Garry Schipper's rented home by some protesting the Heritage Front's propagandist. This is the one claim that at least has some basis in legitimacy.

2. The firebombing of Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel's Toronto home. In fact, the only group that claimed responsibility was a small Jewish extremist group that had been linked to the Jewish Defence League.

3. A fight between young ARA members and a group of neo-Nazis that left one person fighting for his life. Even  Mark admits that it was the ARA member who was stabbed and almost killed and the bonehead charged with attempted murder, though he and others then claim he had it coming.

That's it. In 20 years, Mark was able to come up with three incidents, one of which resulted in no serious injuries to the boneheads but left an ARA member in critical condition and one in which the only people still claiming an ARA link (the firebombing) are those associated with the boneheads. If they are trying to be a violent group of Canadian terrorists, the ARA are really, really bad at it. 

Mark's statement did get us to thinking though while we sat around having a few beers. If we were to look back at the past 20 years, what would the level of bonehead violence look like? We figured that the numbers would be pretty high, but in all honesty most of us were too lazy to actually do the necessary research. Except for one of our members who did just that.

When "NomDeGuerre200" considered the question and suggested an article, the rest of the Collective had no idea how much research the author would engage in nor the level of information provided. 'NomDeGuerre200" made a point of only using information that could be verified by reliable secondary sources, mostly media based. We know there is more out there, but what has been created is, we believe, the most extensive timeline of neo-Nazi/racist violence in Canada covering more than 20 years (and as we will continue to add to the document, both before 1981 (we originally began at 1989) and after 2011, the list will no doubt become even more comprehensive).

And with that, we give you "History of Violence."