Prosecutors said Fields had a long history of racist and anti-Semitic behavior and had shown no remorse for his crimes. “The bigotry and ideology of neo-Nazism, Nazism, white supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan are a disgrace to this country and illegal acts based on those should be eradicated from the United States,” Dreiband said. “Hate crimes violate the most fundamental American values of freedom and human dignity,” Eric Dreiband, assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, said at a news conference with federal prosecutors. President Donald Trump sparked controversy when he blamed the violence at the rally on “both sides,” a statement that critics saw as a refusal to condemn racism.Īfter Fields was sentenced, a Department of Justice official condemned his actions. Hundreds of counterprotesters showed up as well. 12, 2017, which drew hundreds of white nationalists to Charlottesville to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. “I hope he can heal someday and help others heal,” Bro said.Īfter the hearing, Bro said she did not believe Fields’ apology was sincere, but instead was a last-ditch attempt to get a lighter sentence.įields drove from his home in Maumee, Ohio, to attend the “Unite the Right” rally on Aug. Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, said she wanted Fields to spend his life in prison but also hoped he would get the medication he needed and that one day he would change his views and no longer support white supremacy. “So, yeah, you deserve everything that you get.”įields appeared stoic and didn’t look at Parker or any of the victims as they spoke. “You could have done anything else but what you did,” Parker said, her voice breaking as she stared directly at Fields. “You had a choice to leave Charlottesville, but you did not,” said Rosia Parker, a longtime civil rights activist in Charlottesville who said she was standing feet away from Heyer when Heyer was struck by Fields’ car. His comments came after more than a dozen survivors of and witnesses to the attack delivered emotional testimony about the physical and psychological wounds they had suffered as a result of the events that day. “Every day I think about how things could have gone differently and how I regret my actions,” he said. Just before Urbanski announced his sentence, the 22-year-old Fields, accompanied by one of his lawyers, walked to a podium in the courtroom and apologized. District Judge Michael Urbanski to consider a sentence of “less than life,” hoping he would take into account Fields’ troubled childhood and mental health issues. Prosecutors and Fields’ lawyers agreed that federal sentencing guidelines called for a life sentence. James Alex Fields Jr., of Maumee, Ohio, had pleaded guilty in March to 29 of 30 hate crimes in connection with the 2017 attack that killed Heather Heyer and injured more than two dozen others. – An avowed white supremacist who deliberately drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing a young woman and injuring dozens, apologized to his victims Friday before being sentenced to life in prison on federal hate crime charges.
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