Southern Indiana white nationalist leader Matthew Heimbach has been sentenced to 38 days in jail for violating his probation for a disorderly conduct conviction stemming from a 2016 Donald Trump rally in Louisville.
Heimbach is the founder of the Traditionalist Worker Party. Last year he pleaded guilty to physically harassing an African-American woman at the Trump rally, but a judge released him under the condition that he take anger management classes and stay out of trouble for two years.
But in March, Heimbach was arrested for felony battery charges in Indiana, prompting Jefferson County prosecutors to request for Heimbach’s probation to be revoked and for his original 90-day sentence to be reinstated.
Prosecutors say they agreed to the shorter 38-day sentence in order to put him in jail immediately.
Jay Lambert, Heimbach’s attorney, said that Heimbach was not admitting any wrongdoing in the Indiana incident.
“What we structured here is a mechanism where Mr. Heimbach did not admit to any factual wrongdoing, but he acknowledged that there was sufficient evidence to revoke had he gone through the hearing,” Lambert said.
The original conviction against Heimbach stemmed from then-candidate Donald Trump’s rally in Louisville on March 1, 2016.
Kashiya Nwanguma alleged she was violently assaulted by Heimbach and another white nationalist, Alvin Bamberger, during the event. Nwanguma said she was shoved, struck and subjected to racial and ethnic slurs.
Heimbach has organized white nationalist rallies in the region and participated in the violent protests in Charlottesville, Va., last year.
Heimbach was arrested in March after he allegedly assaulted his wife and his wife’s stepfather, another party leader, in a dispute resulting from an affair.
District Court Judge Stephanie Burke spoke directly to Heimbach after revoking his probation.
“Mr. Heimbach, I really hope that I do not see you back in this court,” Burke said.