'Unite the Right' rally counterprotester with flamethrower drops appeal

A black counterprotester is no longer appealing his conviction for using an improvised flamethrower during a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

News outlets report that court documents show Corey Long dropped his appeal Thursday, two weeks before a hearing in Charlottesville Circuit Court.

An Associated Press photographer captured an image of Long firing the flamethrower toward a man wielding a flagpole during the deadly Aug. 12, 2017, rally. The image went viral.

Long said he used the makeshift flamethrower to protect himself from advancing rally participants who were yelling slurs.

Long was found guilty of misdemeanor disorderly conduct June 8 and ordered to serve 20 days in jail. He'll instead serve a total of 10 days in jail, served over the course of five weekends starting Feb. 1.

________

ORIGINAL STORY (Aug. 21, 2018):

A black counterprotester is appealing his conviction for using an improvised flamethrower during the 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The Daily Progress reports Corey Long's appeal will be heard on Jan. 24. Long was found guilty of misdemeanor disorderly conduct June 8, and ordered to serve 20 days in jail.

An Associated Press photographer captured an image of Long firing the flamethrower toward a man wielding a flagpole during the deadly Aug. 12 rally. The image went viral.

Long said he used the makeshift flamethrower to protect himself from advancing rally participants who were yelling slurs. Among them was self-identified Ku Klux Klan imperial wizard Richard Preston, who is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday for pointing a pistol toward Long and firing, hitting the dirt.