Self-professed neo-Nazi to go on trial in deadly crash at Charlottesville rally

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

Self-professed neo-Nazi to go on trial in deadly crash at Charlottesville rally

By Paul Duggan
November 23 at 8:00 AM

Fifteen months after an angry demonstration by white supremacists in Charlottesville erupted in deadly mayhem, a self-professed neo-Nazi is set to go on trial Monday, charged with killing a counterprotester and injuring 35 others by intentionally ramming his car into another vehicle on a crowded street.

The alleged act of automotive rage by James Alex Fields Jr. on Aug. 12, 2017 — which climaxed a day of violent clashes involving hundreds of white supremacists and their opponents — helped make “Charlottesville” a shorthand term for the emergence of emboldened ethno-fascists in the era of President Trump.

Now Fields, 21, charged with first-degree murder and other crimes, is due to face a jury in Charlottesville Circuit Court as prosecutors, using video evidence from the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally, revive memories of racist and anti-Semitic hate spewed on the streets of the small city that is home to Thomas Jefferson’s University of Virginia.

The counterprotester who was killed, Heather D. Heyer, 32, worked for a local law firm and was remembered by friends as a committed advocate of social justice. Fields, who drove to the rally from his apartment in Maumee, Ohio, near Toledo, was described by acquaintances as being deeply fascinated by Nazi Germany, often espousing admiration for the militarism and racial-purity dogma of the Third Reich.

With tight security and an expected heavy police presence outside the red-brick courthouse on High Street, jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday morning and could last until midweek, followed by opening statements and the start of testimony Wednesday or Thursday. Judge Richard E. Moore has set aside 14 weekdays, until Dec. 13, for the entire proceeding.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/self-professed-neo-nazi-to-go-on-trial-in-deadly-crash-at-charlottesville-rally/2018/11/22/78fd8efe-eda1-11e8-8679-934a2b33be52_story.html

[irisblue]

1. Good.

[Botany]

2. I hope that one of the last persons he sees is an African American as they put in the ...

.... tube to his vein and are strapping him to the table. But the victims family will ask for
mercy because that is what Ms. Heyer would have wanted.

[cstanleytech]

3. I prefer life in prison and not because I oppose the death penalty but because I want the guy

to spend the rest of his life in prison without parole and have to live with the fact every day that he wasted his life by the choice he made to be an asshole.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

4. Unfortunately, he will never come to that realization.

Our prisons are a hotbed of Aryan Brotherhood, White Supremacists and Neo-nazis. They gravitate toward one another and form gangs that are far more vicious than anything we see on the outside.

[Boomerproud]

6. Solitary in SuperMax would be fine with me.

Never to be seen nor heard about again, except in documentaries.

[47of74]

5. I now support the death penalty for neo Nazis like him who run over people.

Even ten years ago I was 100% against the death penalty but now I think there are a few cases where I think it is an appropriate punishment. Running down protesters with one's vehicle is a case where I now support capital punishment.

[oldlibdem]

7. Does this person have no shame?

Just plead guilty and ask the judge to spare your life. Then spend the rest of it trying to atone for your crime!

[oasis]

12. He likely wants to take the stand to spew white nationalist propaganda.

Desperately seeking martyrdom .

[oldlibdem]

14. We'll see how that works out for him in about 30 years

when He turns 50 and realizes how he wasted his youth and life following these fools!

[Marcuse]

8. He is charged with State crimes rather than federal, fortunately.

No presidential pardon for this good person.

[iluvtennis]

9. Lock. His. Ass. Up. He should also be charged at federal level for a hate crime

[Izzy Blue]

10. "Charlottesville Car Attack Suspect Indicted on Federal Hate Crime Charges James Alex Fields"

snip:


"Mr. Fields, 21, was charged in the Western District of Virginia with one count of a hate crime resulting in the death of Ms. Heyer, as well as dozens of other counts of hate crime acts, which each carry a possible sentence of life in prison. He also faces first-degree murder charges in state court; the authorities say he drove the car that killed Ms. Heyer and injured dozens.

Federal prosecutors charged Mr. Fields under two hate crime statutes that require proof that he was motivated to cause harm to other people because of their actual or perceived race, color, religion or national origin.

Thomas Cullen, the United States attorney for western Virginia, called the 30-count indictment the culmination of a 10-month investigation that involved searching the social media accounts where Mr. Fields showed an interest in harming minorities"


https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/27/us/politics/charlottesville-death-hate-crime-charges.html

[iluvtennis]

11. Good. Thanks for the post.

[MarvinGardens]

13. Throw the book at him. (nt)