He may have been on the receiving end of a punch after his press conference went awry in Charlottesville, but a grand jury determined he should face felony charges for lying about being assaulted in January. In fact, it was Kessler who did the assaulting. From WHSV:
Kessler gave a statement to a magistrate on Jan. 23, 2017, claiming that he was assaulted by James Taylor on the Downtown Mall while trying to gather signatures for his petition to get Wes Bellamy removed from the Charlottesville City Council.
However, Kessler later pleaded guilty to assaulting Taylor and charges were dismissed against Taylor.
Kessler admitted to punching Taylor in the face after a confrontation over his petition.
"He and his buddy came over, they scribbled on my petition and vandalized it," said Kessler. "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."
He was released on bond.
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