By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
Crying Nazi Christopher Cantwell has more reason to shed a few tears: the white supremacist lost his appeal this week when the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his criminal convictions for threatening another white supremacist.
Cantwell, 42, was released from prison last year, though he has not yet come home to the Keene area where he operated for years, first as a Free State activist and then later as a right-wing provocateur.
The Appeals Court in Boston ruled Wednesday that his federal conviction for threatening a member of the hate group, the Bowl Patrol, stands. Cantwell argued that the government erred by including statements from his then-girlfriend Katelyn “Peach” Fry.
Fry did not testify at Cantwell’s New Hampshire trial last year, but a recording of a conversation between her and Cantwell was used in the closing arguments by prosecutors. Cantwell supplied investigators with the recording in which Fry seems to be shocked by her then-lover’s actions against victim Ben Lambert, also known as Cheddar Mane.
While the Court agreed with Cantwell that Fry’s statements used in the Government’s closing argument were technically hearsay and improperly used to sway the case, that error is obviated by the overwhelming nature of the case and evidence against Cantwell.
“Even without Fry’s statement, the government presented ample evidence on each of these elements from which a jury could properly conclude that the government had met its burden,” the Court wrote in its ruling. “(T)he strength of the government’s evidence on Cantwell’s threats belies any argument that its use of Fry’s statement during closing argument likely affected the outcome of the case.”
According to the recording, Cantwell told Fry he either had to go to police, or kill Lambert himself:
“CANTWELL: The only choices that I have are to go to law enforcement or to go to hunt this fucking asshole down and commit a crime myself. Those are the two choices that I have.
FRY: How can you say that?
CANTWELL: No, because, well because those are my two choices. I can say that and I can say that to the fucking FBI. That’s why I go to the FBI, right? That’s why I go to the government so that I don’t have to commit a crime. You know, it’s not a matter of whether I think they are on my side or not, it’s these guys broke the law and the only remedy I have is law enforcement.
FRY: Okay, but you threatened Cheddar Mane and said you are going to come and rape his wife.
CANTWELL: I didn’t say I was going to go rape his wife, okay? I fucking left that out there, okay?”
Cantwell came to fame when he was caught on video crying at the Unite the Right rally. Cantwell first came to Keene to be part of the Free Keene libertarian movement, but was disavowed by the group when his rhetoric turned racist and violent. Cantwell hosted an internet radio show before his arrest by federal agents. He was convicted last year for making interstate threats for threatening to rape the wife of Lambert, then a member of the Bowl Patrol.
Aside from the recording of Fry, prosecutors had white supremacist Republican Paul Nehlen and Lambert both testify that Cantwell’s threats were over the line. Cantwell’s defense relied on the fact that he and Lambert and others in the white supremacist community often spoke in this manner.
Fry’s involvement in the case included her trip to Lambert’s home state of Missouri at Cantwell’s behest to take photos of Lambert and his family.
Cantwell was using his threats to force Lambert to disclose the identity of another Bowl Patrol member, whose cyber identity was Vic Mackey.
“So if you don’t want me to come and fuck your wife in front of your kids, then you should make yourself scarce[.] Give me Vic, it’s your only out.” Cantwell wrote. “Get a fucking life or you will lose the one you have,” Cantwell wrote “You’re the one who is going to suffer cause you’re the one I can get.”
Vic Mackey has subsequently been outed as Sacramento, California resident Andrew Casarez, 28. According to J Weekly, the Jewish News of Northern California, Casarez lives in the suburb of Orangevale with his parents and grandmother.
Cantwell’s relationship with the Bowl Patrol was initially friendly until Cantwell started a new website that attempted to be more mainstream conservative and less white supremacist. Members of the Bowl Patrol considered Cantwell a “sell out,” for this, according to court records.
That’s when the Bowl Patrol began a campaign to inundate his call-in radio show with prank calls. The Bowl Patrol callers also practiced “fedposting,” which means they made inflammatory statements on the show to garner attention from FBI agents, such as talking about desecrating the graves of FBI agents. Cantwell was already under FBI surveillance at the time of the Bowl Patrol’s campaign, according to court records.
Starting in 2019, federal agents obtained a warrant to access Cantwell’s email accounts. He was also under surveillance at his home, according to court records.
Bowl Patrol members hacked his website and sent his readers emails indicating that Cantwell was a federal informant and that he supported having sex with children, according to his attorneys.
Cantwell retaliated to the Bowl Patrol’s harassment, contacting Keene police more than 50 times, threatening Lambert/Cheddar Mane and eventually talking to FBI agents, according to court records.
The Bowl Patrol is a group of white supremacists who elevate racist killers like Dylan Roof as part of their online ideology. The group takes their name from Roof’s bowl-style haircut. Roof is the mass murderer who shot and killed nine African Americans during a church service in Charleston, South Carolina.
Cantwell’s been losing since this arrest on the federal threatening charges in 2020. In 2021, he and a host of white supremacists were found liable for $25 million in a civil lawsuit brought over his participation in the 2018 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Cantwell was initially ordered to pay $500,000 for his portion of the damages. The total damages awarded was later slashed to $2.3 million on appeal, meaning Cantwell owes closer to $25,000 in damages.
Cantwell was seeking donations last year online after his release in December, claiming he is unemployable.