The white supremacist who killed Heather Heyer by driving his car into a crowd of counterprotesters was sentenced to life in prison Friday for 29 federal hate crimes.
James Fields Jr. apologized in court Friday for his actions and all of the “hurt and loss” he caused in the incident, which injured 35 other people.
An avowed white supremacist who drove his car into a crowd of anti-racism protesters during a white nationalist rally in Virginia is sentenced to life in prison on hate crime charges. https://t.co/Ur5aeNXZVH
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 28, 2019
The attack occurred at the Charlottesville, Virginia, “Unite the Right” rally, which was planned to protest the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue. White supremacist groups chanted racist and anti-Semitic comments, brought clubs, shields, and other weapons to the events, and were met by counterprotesters. Videos of Fields driving his Dodge Challenger into a group of counterprotesters galvanized public outcry over the crime.
Fields was convicted of murder separately in a state court in December and will be receiving separate sentencing in July.
Lawyers for the 22-year-old, who pleaded guilty to the hate crime charges this year, argued he should be granted leniency due to his rough childhood and upbringing. U.S. Attorney Chris Kavanaugh, who prosecuted the case, argued the case was domestic terrorism and said leniency should not be considered due to his long-held neo-Nazi views.
Prosecutors are briefing the media and are very pleased with the life sentences handed to James Fields Jr. @8news pic.twitter.com/wLusCAE0c2
— Talya Cunningham (@Talya8news) June 28, 2019
Kavanaugh’s 50-page sentencing memo included testimony and statements from Fields in which he expressed many racist views and expressed little remorse for killing Heyer. In a conversation with his mom, Fields called Heyer an “anti-white liberal” and went on to say that “she is the enemy.”
