Counterprotester with flamethrower at 2017 rally appeals

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

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.